Sudan, UN Sign Deal on ‘Refugees Return’

"The collection of weapons will be gradual and begin with an initiative for reconciliation among the tribes through the native administrations," Sudanese Interior Minister Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein said, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported Saturday, August 21.

The minister, however, gave no timeframe for the "reconciliation" initiative.

Hussein said new bodies would be set up to have wide-ranging powers in "administrative, security and judicial matters."

The Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday, July 30 threatening Khartoum with sanctions unless the Sudanese government disarms armed militias, especially the Janjaweed in Darfur within 30 days.

Deal on Voluntary Return

The embattled Khartoum government, meanwhile, signed Saturday an agreement with the United Nations to ensure the voluntary return of displaced Darfuris to their homes, Reuters news agency reported.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said the agreement on internally displaced people (IDPs) would help reassure the international community on the situation in the troubled area.

"Of course this first of all will revoke any queries about whether the return of the IDPs is voluntary or involuntary. We have an international organization who will supervise the return," Ismail told reporters.

He added that the Sudanese government has started to form a native administration in Darfur to work in coordination with the local government until local elections are held.

The Foreign Minister said that the Sudanese government has deployed police forces and redeployed army troops in Darfur to prevent militia attacks on the refugees camps.

Reports about the number of victims of violence in Darfur vary deeply and range from 10 to 50 thousand, and 2.2 million are reportedly in urgent need of food, medicine and shelter, due to the attacks of the armed militias on civilians in the area.

Dr. Hussein Gezairy, Regional Director of World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, told IslamOnline.net Thursday, July 29, that the situation in the restive area did not amount to genocide or ethnic cleansing as claimed.