A top UN envoy on Wednesday called for an end to the ongoing violence in the Sudanese region of Darfur in order to pave the way for "fruitful"
peace efforts in the embattled region, where renewed clashes were reported over the past few days.
"For any efforts in this regard to be fruitful, the continuing violence has to stop," Ibrahim Gambari, the joint special representative of the African Union-United Nations Mission in
Darfur (UNAMID), said when he was briefing the UN Security Council at an open meeting on the situation of Darfur.
"The renewed clashes, as we have seen them in the past two days, have very likely caused new displacement and suffering of the civilian population, the full extent of which we are yet to see in the coming days," Gambari said.
Clashes have recently increased between Khartoum and the Darfur rebels since the Sudanese government withdrew its negotiating delegation from the Qatari-hosted peace talks on Darfur on Dec. 30, 2010 after collapse of endeavors for signing a peace agreement.
"I have engaged the government and SLA/MM (Sudan Liberation Army/Minni Minawi) calling for restraint and an immediate cessation of hostilities and I would like to use this opportunity to reiterate this call," said Gambari.
Noting that fighting in the area has "subsided" as of Wednesday afternoon in Darfur, Gambari warned that resumption of violence
between "belligerent parties is possible."
Looking at the Eastern Jebel Marra region, he said the area will remain a priority of UNAMID, but there are "challenges throughout the region that require our presence and full support."
To achieve lasting stabilization in Darfur, he said, "we must seize all opportunities to build on positive trends" to allow displaced populations regain normalcy and move beyond aid dependency.
Although access remains a challenge in many places in the area, Gambari highlighted that UNAMID has taken "steps to improve this situation."
An international consultative meeting chaired by head of African Union Panel on Sudan Thabo Mbeki on Jan. 15 urged the Darfur rebel groups to participate in the Doha negotiation to reach a lasting peace agreement.
The meeting, which brought together Sudan, the United States, the AU panel and UNAMID, "stressed importance of speeding up the negotiation efforts in Doha and complete the political course in Darfur," said the spokesman of Sudanese Foreign Ministry, Khalid Mussa.
The joint mediation, led by Qatar, has made intensive efforts to persuade the Sudanese rivals to agree on a final solution, but those efforts were blocked by demands of the Darfur rebel Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), the major faction in the Doha talks.
The LJM demands the post of Sudanese vice-president and renaming of Darfur as one region instead of three states as it is now.