Senior US official in Sudan to prop up peace deal

From AFP, reprinted on ReliefWeb...

US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs Jendayi E. Frazer arrived in Khartoum Thursday in a fresh effort by Washington to prop up a fledgling peace deal in Sudan.

"Her trip will underscore key U.S. objectives in Sudan, including implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), ending the conflict in Darfur, and advancing US-Sudan bilateral relations," the US embassy in Khartoum said in a statement.

Washington played an important role in bringing about a January peace deal between Khartoum and the former southern rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The accord ended more two decades of north-south war, which left some two million people dead and four million displaced, but did not cover separate conflicts in the east and western region of Darfur.

Up to 300,000 people have died in the Darfur conflict that pits government forces and their Arab Janjaweed militia allies against ethnic minority rebels demanding greater political and economic autonomy from Khartoum.

The US official was due to discuss the north-south peace deal and efforts to find a political settlement to the 30-month conflict in Darfur with Sudanese leaders in Khartoum and Juba, the capital of southern Sudan.

Frazer "will also visit Juba (the capital of southern Sudan), where she will meet with First Vice-President Salva Kiir Mayardit, Vice-President Riek Machar, and other SPLM officials," the embassy said.

She was not expected to travel to the stricken region of Darfur during the visit, her first to the country since assuming the position, as part of a seven-country African and European trip.

US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has already visited Sudan three times this year and appointed Roger Winter as his special envoy on the Darfur conflict.

Frazer's visit came two days after Cameron Hume, a senior State Department official and conflict resolution expert, assumed his post as the top US envoy in Sudan.

Hume's high profile, a State Department spokesman said, "reflects the high priority that we place on implementing the CPA and resolving the crisis in Darfur."