Britain offers to host Darfur peace summit
LONDON (AFP) — Britain offered Sunday to host peace talks on the strife-torn Sudanese region of Darfur under proposals put forward by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
British officials have been in contact with the Khartoum regime and rebel groups to offer the possibility of a summit.
"Britain is willing to invite all parties to London for talks to see if there is a way to make some progress," said a spokesman for Brown's Downing Street office.
The offer came as activists in 30 countries held a global day of action Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Darfur conflict.
Brown said in a statement he was frustrated at the "appalling situation and the slow progress" in brokering peace talks.
He promised to bring up the issue of deploying peacekeepers in Darfur during talks with US President George W. Bush and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the United States next week.
"Today, on the fifth Global Day for Darfur, the eyes of the world are rightly focused on the millions of men, women and children in the region who continue to start each day with the fear of violence, abduction, rape or death," he said.
"The effects on children of the violence in Darfur have been nothing short of devastating. One million children have been forced to flee their homes and now live in crowded camps in need of basic food and water; two million children depend on humanitarian aid to survive; and half of all children are not receiving any education."
Brown said: "I feel frustrated by this appalling situation and the slow progress, but I am determined that we will not fail."
Around 3,000 demonstrators protested outside the Sudanese embassy in London.
Meanwhile, children from the war-torn western province of Darfur delivered drawings of their experiences to Downing Street.
Ikhlass Mohamed, a mother of three who fled the conflict in 2004, said the protest was vital for keeping the issue in the public eye.
"Everything you can imagine is happening there: torture, rape, abductions, killings, robbery, everything that damages human life is happening in Darfur," she said.
Faith leaders, politicians and journalists addressed the crowd.
Meanwhile Andrew Mitchell, international development spokesman for the main opposition Conservatives, said international efforts to resolve the Darfur conflict had been "pathetic".
"We need tougher, targeted sanctions on the men of violence, greater support for the beleaguered UN-African Union mission, an immediate arms embargo, and a reinvigorated peace process to address the root causes of the conflict," he said.
"The current half-hearted and frustratingly slow international response must make way for urgent, determined and effective action. Do we really want to have a sixth day of action next year at which, once again, nothing has changed?"
Nick Clegg, leader of the smaller opposition Liberal Democrat party, said: "I would not want to denigrate the rhetorical efforts of Gordon Brown, but I am afraid people want to see action rather than more rhetoric."
The UN says that since the Darfur conflict broke out in February 2003, at least 200,000 people have died and 2.2 million fled their homes while the Sudanese government maintains that 9,000 have been killed.
The conflict began when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime and state-backed Arab militias.
