U.N. chief pleased with Darfur progress

TRIPOLI, Libya _ After a weeklong trip to three African countries, the U.N. secretary-general said Sunday he was encouraged by "credible progress" toward settling one of the continent's bloodiest conflicts in Sudan's Darfur region.

Ban Ki-moon visited Chad, Libya and Sudan, meeting with leaders who promised to strive for a final settlement of the Darfur conflict at Oct. 27 talks in Libya.

"I think we have made ... credible progress at this time toward the path to peace and security in Darfur," Ban told reporters. "I'm encouraged by this progress, but we must build upon this progress."

The secretary-general said he asked a several countries in the region, including Sudan, Chad, Libya, Egypt and Eritrea, to work on a roadmap for the peace talks that the United Nations will develop. It will be discussed at a high-level meeting in New York on Sept. 21.

U.N. envoy Jan Eliasson, who will be mediating the peace talks with his African Union counterpart, Salim Ahmed Salim, has said any final settlement in Darfur would require agreement on wealth-sharing, power-sharing and security issues.

More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been uprooted in the last four years since ethnic African rebels in Darfur took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in 2003, accusing it of decades of neglect. Sudan's government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the janjaweed _ a charge it denies.

The U.N. and its allies must persuade Darfur's fragmented rebel groups to sit down with the Sudanese government, a goal that has proved elusive in the past.

Abdel Wahid Nur, one of the most influential rebel leaders, rejected Ban's proposed conferences almost immediately. Nur, who leads a major faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement group, boycotted other talks in early August, demanding as a precondition the cessation of hostilities on the ground.

Ban on Sunday urged Nur to "look at the reality" and participate in the peace negotiations. "If he regards himself as a leader ... he should be prepared to make the right decision, the wise decision," he said. "If he really thinks for the future of Sudan ... he should come."

On Saturday, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi assured Ban he would use his influence to get rebels like Nur to the negotiating table. As a member of both the Arab League and the African Union, Libya could be a bridge between Arabs and ethnic Africans in Darfur, and between Arab and African countries that have been divided over how to respond to the crisis. Arab states have tended to support Sudan's central government.

Ban said he urged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum "to cooperate fully to nurture this very fragile process," expedite deployment of a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force, and "exercise maximum restraint."

"For that (to be) possible, he must keep the cessation of hostilities, he must not do any further aerial bombardments, he must ensure smooth flow of humanitarian assistance, and protect humanitarian workers so they will not be hindered in their works," Ban said.

Ban obtained a "strong commitment" from al-Bashir to abide by an agreement with the U.N. earlier this year to expedite humanitarian assistance. Al-Bashir has been blamed by many for unleashing the janjaweed militias and interfering with the work of aid organizations.

Key to Darfur's stabilization is the eventual deployment of a 26,000-strong U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force to replace a smaller AU force that has been unable to stem the violence.

Ban said preparations for the deployment of the force "are moving on track," with more than enough troop commitments from African countries. But he indicated the force still needs specialized aviation, transport and logistical units, which he urged European countries to provide.