On talk of ceasefire in Darfur

Asked about a 60-day ceasefire being spoke about in Sudan for the Darfur area, US Department Of State Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey yesterday said "I wish I could say that there was a 60-day ceasefire in place. I'll just talk to you a little bit about what we do know."

Casey said " First of all, we welcome the government's statements that it has made in conjunction with that trip, building as they do on the Addis Ababa agreement from back in November. And we've also noted the commitment of two of the non-signatories to the Darfur Peace Agreement; that's specifically the Justice and Equality Movement and the Abdel Wahid faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement to honor the ceasefire agreement as well."

AHe added "as I understand it, the AU and the UN are now working together with the government and these rebel groups to try and make sure that those verbal commitments to the ceasefire are turned into reality."

Casey said "I also want to note too, I think some of you have seen this, but Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also supposed to schedule to meet in Addis Ababa at the margins of the African Union summit with President Bashir, and certainly moving forward on the ceasefire is one of the things that they'll be talking about as well."

He added "So these commitments have been made, Joel, but I think as of yet, like with so many of the commitments in this area and with Darfur, we want to make sure that they're actually turned into facts on the ground rather than just statements."