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Annan Urges Warring Parties to Seek Peaceful Settlement in Sudan
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Friday urged the Sudanese warring parties to settle their differences peacefully, voicing his concern over the impact of military attacks on civilians in the African country.
A spokesman for the secretary-general said in a statement that Annan was deeply concerned about the effects on the civilian population of recent military offensive in the southern Sudanese province of Bahr El Ghazal.
"The secretary-general much regrets that, once again in the Sudan, it is the civilian population which is bearing the brunt of armed conflict and reiterates the need for the parties to resolve their differences by peaceful means," spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.
The fighting, which has caused massive disruption, came at a time when farming communities should have been fully engaged in planting for the next harvest season, the spokesman said.
Many thousands of civilians have fled into government- controlled areas, while the Bahr El Ghazal region - traditionally a "bread basket" area -- now faced real fears of "coming food shortages in a locality where there was once a surplus," he said.
The spokesman noted that Operation Lifeline Sudan -- the framework through which UN agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been assisting millions of Sudanese throughout the country for over a decade -- was working with the humanitarian community to provide immediate relief assistance to cope with the crisis.
The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for greater autonomy for Sudan's mainly Christian and animist south from the Muslim and Arab north. The war is thought to have claimed about 2 million lives.
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