{"id":1078,"date":"2007-01-09T16:37:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-09T22:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/richardson-discusses-cease-fire-with-rebel-group\/"},"modified":"2007-01-09T16:37:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-09T22:37:00","slug":"richardson-discusses-cease-fire-with-rebel-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/richardson-discusses-cease-fire-with-rebel-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson discusses cease fire with rebel group"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Gov. Bill Richardson asked rebel leaders in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> today to agree to a 60-day cease-fire and engage in peace talks with the government, according to the Associated Press<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:city> also met in Darfur<\/st1:place> with local government leaders, the commander of the African Union forces and people who have been displaced, the news service reported.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The commander of the troops told Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> he desperately needs help.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe force is too small to do the job we are doing,\u201d Maj. Gen. Luke Aprezi said, according to the news service. \u201cWe need to be enhanced. We need more troops on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Getting the government to accept a U.N. peacekeeping force is Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In his meeting with rebel leaders, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said he has pressed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to agree to a cease fire.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want peace,\u201d the news service quoted him as saying. \u201cWe just want to bring it to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A rebel leader told Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> the government continues to arm militias, and said the rebels are not carrying out offensive attacks. That leader, Col.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> Abul Abdallah Isamail of the Sudanese Liberation Movement Army, said he would meet with the government if it will agree to the cease fire.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the government is serious, we have no problem,\u201d the news service quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> will meet with al-Bashir Wednesday and pledged to report back to rebel leaders after that.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 4:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In a news release, Richardson<\/st1:city> said the human toll of the crisis in Darfur<\/st1:place> is shocking. He visited a camp that is home to more than 43,000 displaced people, most of them women and children.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe spirit and character of these people in the face of such personal tragedy is remarkable,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cWhen you realize there are 65 official (displaced person) camps filled with hundreds of thousands of people, you begin to see the true extent of this crisis.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what we saw today, it is clear the situation in Darfur is deteriorating at an alarming rate,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cEvery group involved in this conflict, the rebels, the U.N. and the (African Union), has an obligation to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers and protect women from becoming victims of sexual violence.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

Richardson<\/st1:city> is scheduled to meet with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir Wednesday morning before returning to New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cOur first meeting on Monday was positive,\u201d He said. \u201cI look forward to meeting with the president tomorrow to try to make additional progress toward peace in the Darfur<\/st1:place> region.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Here is a photo of Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> meeting with people in the camp, released by the governor\u2019s office:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bill Richardson asked rebel leaders in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan today to agree to a 60-day cease-fire and engage in peace talks with the government, according to the Associated Press. Richardson also met in Darfur with local government leaders, the commander of the African Union forces and people who have been displaced, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}