For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 10, 2004

G-8 Statement on Sudan

We, the Leaders of the G-8, warmly welcome the May 26 signing by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) of protocols on Power Sharing, Abyei, and on the Two Areas (of Southern Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains). We urge the parties to reach a final and comprehensive agreement which includes a timetable and security arrangements as quickly as possible. We hope that this agreement and its faithful implementation will end one of the world's most painful conflicts and begin a new era of Sudanese peace and prosperity.

We also wish to express our grave concern over the humanitarian, human rights, and political crisis in Darfur. We welcome the N'djamena ceasefire agreement of April 8, and the announcement on May 20 by the Government of Sudan that restrictions on humanitarian access will be eased. However, there are continuing reports of gross violations of human rights, many with an ethnic dimension. We call on all parties to the conflict to immediately and fully respect the ceasefire, allow unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need, and create the conditions for the displaced to return safely to their homes. We call especially on the Sudanese government to disarm immediately the "Janjaweed" and other armed groups which are responsible for massive human rights violations in Darfur. We call on the conflict parties to address the roots of the Darfur conflict and to seek a political solution.

We support the African Union as it assumes the leading role in the monitoring mission which is now being sent to the Darfur region to supervise the cease-fire agreement.

We pledge our countries' assistance in ending the conflicts in Sudan and in providing humanitarian aid to those in need. We call on all parties to the conflicts in Sudan to commit themselves to respecting the right of all Sudanese to live in peace and dignity.

We look to the United Nations to lead the international effort to avert a major disaster and will work together to achieve this end.

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