Sudan: The Passion of the Present: Rice: "World has failed Darfur" / Rice hails France's "energizing" drive to resolve Darfur conflict / Rice warns Sudan against putting new conditions on peacemaking efforts for Darfur

Eight newer stories that update Sunday's earlier batch (updated originally to add the one from the "New York Times"; updated further, on Monday, to reflect a newer version of the BBC story on the source page [although other newer stories will appear in a later post]):

From the BBC...

The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has urged the world's powers to "redouble" their efforts to end the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

Ms Rice said [that] they could not "continue to sit by", after an international conference in Paris on the violence that has left some 200,000 people dead.

Officials from the US, Europe and the Arab League discussed how to speed up the deployment of UN troops to Darfur.

But Sudan said [that] the talks were premature as it had already agreed to the force.

The Sudanese Foreign Minister, Lam Akol, told the BBC that his government was in complete agreement with the composition of the peacekeeping force, its command, the nature of its operation, and its mission.

"We are ready to have the force deployed at any time," he told the BBC's Newshour programme.

"The ball is actually in the court of the United Nations, to expedite the operation."

The Sudanese government was not invited to the talks, while the African Union boycotted the conference because it regarded the French initiative as a distraction from its own mediation efforts.

Momentum

Speaking after the gathering in France, Ms Rice said [that] it had enabled the participating countries to "take stock" of the situation in Darfur, and [to] make sure [that] they were doing everything [that] they could.

"The international community simply cannot continue to sit by," she told reporters.

"We really must redouble our efforts."

Ms Rice also warned the international community not to lose the momentum generated by the conference.

"Those who have been around this for a while are going to work very hard against backtracking," she said.

"We have had circumstances in which we have had agreements before, and those agreements have not gone forward."

Ms Rice's French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, said [that] the future was brighter for Darfur, after the conference.

"There is a little light at the end of the darkness," he said.

'Firm'

Before the meeting, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on the international community to be "firm" with Sudan, if it refused to co-operate with efforts to end the conflict in Darfur.

"Silence is killing," he said.

Mr Sarkozy called for the swift deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur to support the current small African Union force presently operating there.

He also pledged an additional 10 [million] euros ($13.4 [million]) to the AU force.

"The lack of decision and the lack of action are unacceptable," he said.

While Mr Sarkozy praised the Sudanese government for agreeing to the formation of a joint UN-AU peacekeeping force, he insisted [that] it had to make more of an effort to bring peace to Darfur.

"We must be firm toward belligerents who refuse to join the negotiating table," he said.

On Sunday, the US and France said [that] the world had failed the people of Darfur, and that there was a need for decisive action.

Sudan's government denies backing the Arab Janjaweed militias accused of the worst atrocities against Darfur's black African population.

Khartoum says [that] the scale of the problems has been exaggerated for political reasons.

From AFP...

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday hailed France's "energizing role" in seeking to launch a new drive to end atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region.

Rice was in Paris for an international conference on the conflict that comes after Sudan bowed to months of pressure and agreed to the deployment of peacekeepers in Darfur under the United Nations and the African Union.

"I think that obviously France is taking a new and... energizing role in Darfur.... And really, we need the energy on Darfur," she told journalists on the plane to Paris.

The conflict has pitted a rebel insurgency against the Arab-dominated government and its proxy militia known as the Janjaweed, whose leader stands accused of war crimes.

At least 200,000 people have been killed and two million driven from their homes since 2003, according to the United Nations. Khartoum says [that the] figures are exaggerated.

Rice, who will be meeting the government of recently elected President Nicolas Sarkozy for the first time, said [that] the new French administration had "signalled a strong desire for cooperation."

Sarkozy is seen as being much more pro-American than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.

On Monday Rice will join representatives of China, France, Russia and several other nations for the Darfur conference.

She met [on] Sunday with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner [in order] to discuss the conflict, ahead of the meeting.

Afterwards, she said [that] the success of the Paris conference would ultimately "come down to the will to insist that the government in Khartoum permit the UN hybrid force with the AU to ... intervene."

Sarkozy and Kouchner have made Darfur a top priority, amid concern over instability spreading to neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic, two French regional allies.

France last week launched an air bridge to ferry aid to Darfur victims in eastern Chad, and is considering a humanitarian force to help some 500,000 internally displaced Chadians and refugees from Darfur.

Kouchner earlier this month visited refugee camps in eastern Chad and spoke of "the world's emotions" about the Darfur conflict in talks with Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir.

Rice said [on] Sunday that she felt [that] China, accused by some critics of helping Khartoum bankroll some of the atrocities in Darfur, had "been more outspoken about the need" to get the peacekeeping force in place.

"But I do think that there is more that will need to be done by China, and by everyone, to make sure that the Sudanese are finally going to carry through," she said.

Pressure is mounting on China, Sudan's biggest oil importer, ahead of the 2008 Olympics to do more to help stop the Darfur crisis.

The United States announced in late May new sanctions against the Khartoum government, accusing it of "genocide."

Sudan is boycotting the Paris meeting, angry that it was not consulted during preparations for the conference, and arguing that the French initiative will unnecessarily duplicate efforts by the United Nations and the African Union.

From Reuters...

The international community has failed in its responsibility to halt the killings in Darfur, and must find a way to force Sudan to accept an international force to end the violence, the United States said on Sunday.

Speaking on the eve of an international meeting on the humanitarian crisis in the western Sudanese region, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized major powers for not having ended violence that is now in its fifth year.

"I will be very frank. I do not think that the international community has really lived up to its responsibilities here," Rice told reporters at a news conference with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

"Ultimately this is going to come down to will," Rice added. "Are we prepared to make the difficult choices in the international system that will, I believe, persuade and compel Khartoum to do what it must?"

Sudan on June 12 agreed to a combined United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force of more than 20,000 troops and police, but many diplomats doubt [that] Khartoum will keep its word.

The aim of the force is to stop the violence in Darfur, where international experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been expelled from their homes in more than four years of strife. Sudan says [that] 9,000 people have died.

The Darfur problem dates back to early 2003, when non-Arab rebels took up arms, accusing the government of not heeding their plight in the remote, arid region. Khartoum mobilized Arab militia, known locally as Janjaweed, to quell the revolt.

The Janjaweed embarked on a campaign of killing, pillaging and rape. In the past year, rebel groups have fought each other and also attacked civilians.

In 2004, the United States called the violence ["]genocide["], a term [that] Khartoum has rejected.

CHINA'S ROLE

France has convened an international meeting on Darfur that is expected to draw senior officials from nations including the United States, Egypt and China, which has been reluctant to impose sanctions on Khartoum, one of its oil suppliers.

"I know that it has been going on for years. So what? Is that a reason to not be interested and let the massacres go on forever? Even if the massacres were bigger, they must be stopped," Kouchner said.

Kouchner said [that] Monday's meeting had three aims: to back the U.N.-AU effort, to offer political backing to those trying to bring together the rebel groups, and to offer financial support for the planned 20,000-strong hybrid international force.

Diplomats are dismayed Sudan has sent mixed signals about the force, saying [that] it should be under the AU's command and control, rather than that of the United Nations, and suggesting [that] it should chiefly be comprised of African forces. The existing force of about 7,000 AU troops is widely seen as ineffective.

Earlier, Rice said [that] she hoped [that] China would bring more pressure to bear on the Khartoum government.

"I'd like to have everybody, the Chinese included, tell the Sudanese, in no uncertain terms, that there is no other option, and that they need to stop agreeing to terms and then trying to scale them back," Rice told reporters as she flew to Paris.

The United States has been pushing for a new Security Council resolution against Sudan, something [that] China has resisted. Rice suggested [that] no decisions on this were likely soon.

Rice said [that] she was grateful to new French President Nicolas Sarkozy for having convened Monday's meeting. U.S. officials hope [that] it may herald an improved relationship with France.

The United States had deep differences with former French President Jacques Chirac, whose opposition to the invasion of Iraq embittered relations with the Bush administration.

Also from Reuters (alternate version)...

France hosts a meeting of senior officials from more than a dozen countries on Monday aimed at providing funds and other support for international efforts to stabilize Sudan's violent Darfur region.

Sudan agreed earlier this month to a combined United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force of more than 20,000 troops and police, but many diplomats doubt [that] it will keep its word.

Delegations from the world's top aid donors, members of the Group of Eight industrialized nations and powerful Sudan ally China are due to discuss the situation in the western province before moving on to 'international support for the reconstruction of Darfur', according to the meeting's agenda.

"It is not a peacemaking meeting. It is, on the contrary, a meeting to support the international efforts that have been deployed," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters at a news conference on Sunday.

He said [that] the meeting was aimed at backing the U.N.-AU effort, offering political support to those trying to bring together rebel groups, and providing funds for the planned hybrid force, which will take over from a beleaguered AU contingent of 7,000.

"If there are 20,000 soldiers coming in the hybrid force, whoever they are, they will have to be paid. And the 7,000 who are there now are not being paid, and they are doing nothing, because they haven't received their salaries since January. So if we continue like this, obviously it won't work," he said.

France has taken a closer interest in Darfur since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office, pledging more work on human rights.

France's financial aid to Darfur remains low compared with other European powers. It gave 3.9 million euros ($5.25 million) in 2006, with 2.5 million euros this year, U.N. figures show.

RENEWED PUSH

The Janjaweed embarked on a campaign of killing, pillage and rape. In the past year rebel groups have fought each other and also attacked civilians.

"It is a renewed push in which we can come together and look again at what we need to do," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said of the meeting at a joint news conference with Kouchner on Sunday, adding that a greater effort was needed.

Rice said [that] the international community has failed in its responsibility to halt the killings in Darfur.

Rebels in Darfur have split into more than a dozen groups since a peace deal last year signed by only one of three rebel negotiating factions.

A senior U.S. official said [that] he hoped [that] the meeting would help to coordinate efforts among the many nations working on Darfur, to explore France's idea of a peace-keeping force in eastern Chad, and to promote political efforts to settle the conflict.

Monday's meeting, which will include representatives from Egypt, the United Nations and the World Bank, but not the African Union, will likely support an AU-U.N. mediation initiative which hopes to have all factions ready to begin talks around August.

From DPA...

Concerned nations have not put sufficient effort in their attempts to put an end to the violence in the region of Darfur in western Sudan, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told journalists in Paris [on] Sunday.

"I think that the international community has not lived up to its responsibilities in Darfur," Rice said, following her first official meeting with new French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

The two met on the eve of an international conference on the Darfur crisis called by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Rice further said that the situation in Darfur would only be resolved if the government in Khartoum, which will not be taking part in the conference, [allows] the deployment of a hybrid peacekeeping force composed of soldiers from the African Union and the United Nations.

That force must be "allowed to come into being" by the Sudanese leadership, Rice said, and called on her colleagues "to make the difficult choices to compel Khartoum" to let the 20,000-strong hybrid force be deployed.

The trip to Paris is the first for any senior member of the Bush administration since the election of Sarkozy, who is viewed as being far more pro-Washington than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.

Kouchner said [that] the aim of Monday's conference would be to drum up political support for the creation of the hybrid force, as well as to secure funds to support it.

Both Rice and Kouchner said that the conference would also provide an opportunity to involve China in the discussions, since Beijing is sending representatives to Paris for the meeting.

From the AP...

The world has fallen down on the job of ending killings and other violence in Sudan's Darfur region, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said [on] Sunday, as she welcomed the fresh energy that France's new conservative-led government has put to the Darfur cause.

She called the four-year-old conflict "one of the true humanitarian disasters that we face in international politics, and one [that] the international community has simply got to act more quickly and more responsibly to stop."

Rice also welcomed a summit [on] Monday between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Egypt, calling Arab support for embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas more important than his western backing. She acknowledged the difficulties [that] Abbas has faced since his Islamic rivals, Hamas, won Palestinian elections last year.

"Democracy is hard," she told reporters at a news conference with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

The chief U.S. diplomat was in Paris for two days of get-to-know-you meetings with the new conservative-led French government and a strategy session on Darfur.

Kouchner organized Monday's conference to speed deployment of about 20,000 new peacekeeping troops to Darfur, the vast, arid region where an estimated 200,000 have died in fighting between African rebels and militias backed by the Arab-led Sudanese government. The conflict has driven about 2.5 million from their homes.

"I have seen firsthand the devastation and the difficult circumstances in which people live in Darfur, and I will be very frank," Rice said. "I do not think that the international community has really lived up to its responsibilities there."

Rice visited Darfur in 2005, spending an afternoon in a refugee camp. Kouchner, who co-founded the Nobel Prize-winning aid group Doctors Without Borders, has been to Darfur more frequently and more recently.

Sudan was not invited to the conference, a decision that Kouchner justified [on] Sunday.

"This is not a 'peacemaking' meeting, but on the contrary, a meeting to support the international efforts that have been deployed," he said.

Kouchner and Rice noted that China will attend the session. China has trade and energy ties to Sudan, and has been accused of running interference for the Khartoum government.

Before arriving [on] Sunday, Rice warned Sudan's government not to renege on its recent agreement to allow a larger peacekeeping force into Darfur. The peacekeepers would come from the African Union and the United Nations.

"If in fact the Sudanese are prepared to accept the hybrid force, they need to accept it once and for all, and stop the process of trying to scale it back," Rice said in a news conference aboard her plane. "It seems, one step forward, two steps back with the Sudanese government."

Rice's trip is a coming-out party for what the Bush administration hopes will be a happier relationship with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, after perceived slights and lectures from his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.

Chirac was the U.S. ally most at odds with U.S. President George W. Bush over the Iraq invasion, and remained a critic of other U.S. military and anti-terrorism actions.

Washington has grumbled that France sells too much sensitive military technology and armament to potentially unscrupulous buyers. But the United States also has praised France for its participation in the international force in Afghanistan.

Part of Monday's session on Darfur was expected to try to flesh out a French proposal for a small, interim peacekeeping force to protect vulnerable refugee camps in neighboring Chad, where some Darfur refugees have fled.

U.S. officials said last week [that] they welcome the idea, partly for what it says about French commitment to take a leading role in the conflict.

The conference is focused on arrangements for the much-larger peacekeeping force for Darfur. The Sudanese government agreed to the force this month, but the details remain vague.

A force of U.N. and AU peacekeepers would replace a 7,000-member AU contingent now in Darfur. That ill-equipped and underfunded force has failed to stop four years of warfare that has left more than 200,000 people dead. Sudan has agreed to allow up to 19,000 peacekeepers, fewer than the 23,000 envisioned in the original U.N. plan.

From VOA...

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says [that] the international community has failed in its responsibility to end killings and other violence in Sudan's Darfur region.

Rice made the comment [on] Sunday in Paris, on the eve of a conference on Darfur that will include representatives from the United Nations, China, Egypt, the Arab League, and the European Union.

Secretary Rice met with her French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, who organized Monday's conference.

The chief U.S. diplomat welcomed what she called the fresh energy that France's new government has put to the Darfur cause.

But she also said that the world must keep pressure on Sudan to follow through with its pledge to accept about 20,000 peacekeepers in a U.N. and African Union force.

Sudan opposes the conference, arguing that any new initiatives could undermine current Darfur peace efforts.

The AU currently has about 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur who have not able to stop the region's rampant violence.

The U.N. estimates that some 200,000 people have died and about two million [have been] displaced since rebels launched an uprising in Darfur four years ago. Sudan says [that] those figures are exaggerated.

Sudan also denies accusations that it supports militias that have attacked villages and killed civilians in the region.

President Bush has labeled the situation in Darfur a genocide.

From the "New York Times"...

France and the United States appeared the best of friends here [Paris] on Sunday, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and France’s new foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, joined forces to confront the continuing crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Ms. Rice praised the new French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, for playing host to an international conference on the crisis starting [on] Monday, and echoed Mr. Kouchner in deploring the international community’s lack of action to stop four years of wanton killing in Darfur.

“I do not think that the international community has really lived up to its responsibilities here,” Ms. Rice told reporters at a news conference with Mr. Kouchner.

There was no hint of the tensions that had marked the Bush administration’s relations with the former president, Jacques Chirac. Both sides seemed eager for a fresh start in a relationship that has been troubled since France vehemently opposed the American-led invasion of Iraq. The Darfur crisis is one issue over which the two governments can come together without much friction.

Since early 2003, an Arab militia known as the janjaweed has been raping and killing non-Arabs in Darfur, ostensibly as part of the Sudanese government’s effort to suppress a rebellion there. The United States labeled the violence genocide in 2004, but the international community has done little to stop it.

Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Kouchner have made addressing the Darfur crisis a priority of their young government’s foreign policy.

Mr. Kouchner visited refugee camps in eastern Chad this month, and last week France began ferrying aid to the region.

Mr. Sarkozy called for the conference, which is expected to draw senior officials from Russia and China, whose support is needed for action by the United Nations Security Council. China, in particular, has been reluctant to impose sanctions on Sudan, one of its chief oil suppliers.

Mr. Kouchner said [that] the Monday meeting was intended to solidify support for a combined United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force that would put more than 20,000 soldiers in Darfur. Sudan’s government in Khartoum agreed to the idea earlier this month, though it has given mixed signals on its willingness to accept the peacekeepers since then.

An existing force of about 7,000 African Union troops has failed to stop the violence.

“Ultimately this is going to come down to will,” Ms. Rice said, referring to the force. “Are we prepared to make the difficult choices in the international system that will, I believe, persuade and compel Khartoum to do what it must?”