India calls for negotiated peace in Sudan, Darfur
By Arun Kumar, IANSTuesday, January 18, 2011
UNITED NATIONS - India has expressed the hope that the parties in trouble-torn Sudan will cease their support to the proxy forces and seek to resolve all issues through negotiations and dialogue.
It has also urged all parties in Darfur region of the northeastern African nation to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement expeditiously.
Speaking at the UN Security Council open meeting on the Sudan here Tuesday, India’s Permanent Representative Hardeep Singh Puri expressed “great satisfaction” that the referendum in South Sudan on whether the region should remain a part of Sudan or be independent has been completed “successfully and peacefully.”
“Successful conduct of the referendum has met an important element in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement reached between the Sudanese parties,” he said.
Commending the commitment of these parties to respect the outcome of the referendum, Puri said India hoped “the same spirit of cooperation and commitment will be shown by the parties to resolve post-referendum issues which remain to be agreed upon.”
However, expressing concern at a “high and worrying level of violence in the region of Abyei, Puri urged the leaders of the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka communities to show restraint and faithfully implement the agreement which was reached with the mediation of the special representative of the UN Secretary General.
“The violence witnessed last week in Abyei should remind us of the need to remain vigilant about the ground situation, which continues to remain fragile,” he said expressing the “hope that the parties will cease their support to the proxy forces and seek to resolve all issues through negotiations and dialogue.”
Also expressing concern at the situation in Darfur, Puri said: “The problem there requires dialogue with participation of all groups, not only those armed but also civil society at large.
“We, therefore, urge all parties to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement expeditiously.”
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
