- The donor community has been urged to speed up support for the deployment of peacekeepers in Sudan's conflict-ridden Darfur region.
African and United Nations peace envoys [Salim Ahmed Salim and Jan Eliasson] also called on Chad and Sudan to tackle the border conflict, which has threatened peace.
"If we can get a quicker deployment of the peacekeeping troops then we can convey the message that yes, the security is increasing," the UN Special Envoy to Darfur, Jan Eliasson told a new briefing in Geneva, adding.
"For peacekeeping to be successful there has to be a peace to keep," he said.
Since 31 December last year, a joint AU-UN mission numbering 9,000 was deployed in Darfur. The deployment falls short of the required 26,000 troops.
The Darfur crisis, which erupted in 2003, had claimed over 200,000 lives and displaced more than two million others. Several efforts to end the conflict proved futile.
After a meeting with negotiators from Chad, Eritrea, Egypt, Libya and international observers, the envoys said "some progress has been achieved" because two of the five Darfur rebel groups have agreed hold meeting with Khartoum officials. However, while two groups worried about security conditions, the other prefers to be given time.
"There are rather far-reaching demands that we have to deal with. If they don't unify their own movements then we hope at least they will unify positions," Eliasson said.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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