Darfur A Key Test For Africa's Ability To Make Peace, Says British F.M.

CAPE TOWN, Aug 26 (AFP) - The crisis in Darfur is a litmus test for Africa's ability to broker peace, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said here Thursday, two days after he visited the strife-torn area in Sudan.
"The situation in Sudan represents a crucial challenge to Africa and the African Union (AU)," said Straw, who is heading the biggest-ever delegation to South Africa for talks aimed at forging closer bilateral ties.
Last month the United Nations warned Sudan it would face sanctions unless it disarmed its proxy militia in Darfur, the Janjaweed, which has been accused of attacking and massacring civilians during the 18-month civil war in the far west of Sudan, by the end of the month.
Some 1.4 million people have been driven from their homes during the fighting, and more than 30,000 killed, according to the United Nations.
AU-sponsored peace talks between the Sudan government and two rebel groups from Darfur entered their fourth day Thursday in the Nigerian capital Abuja with a discussion on a UN report on the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn part of Sudan.
Straw urged the Sudanese government on Tuesday to ease the suffering caused by its bloody clampdown in Darfur, as he toured a refugee camp.
Straw said Darfur "will test AU's ability to promote peace through dialogue and a political process," but added that there were many other "hot problems" in Africa, evoking the political crisis in Zimbabwe, instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo and tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
"Zimbabwe is not the only country in Africa where a repressive government is pursuing policies which are damaging to its people," Straw said of long-serving President Robert Mugabe's regime which also has attracted sweeping criticism for a controversial land reform programme.
But he added: "It is the place where the damage is severe."
The immediate challenge for Africa was to resolve its problems, as "peace is the first condition for development," Straw said.
However, Straw said the world's poorest continent was a far better place than it was three decades ago.
"In 1973 there were only three democratically elected leaders and now there are more than 30," he said but underscored the need for "greater debt relief," and stepped up aid.