SUDAN:A group of elder statesmen, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, is to travel to Darfur next week in an effort to persuade rebel fighters to engage in peace talks.
The visit is taking place under the auspices of "The Elders", a recently-formed coalition of world leaders that includes former South African president Nelson Mandela and human rights lawyer and ex-president of Ireland Mary Robinson.
Ms Robinson, who travelled to Chad earlier this month as part of the peace initiative, is on Monday to brief Archbishop Emeritus Tutu before his trip.
Speaking to The Irish Times from New York, where she is engaged in talks this week with UN diplomats, she said she believed there was "a genuine momentum" towards peace in Darfur. But she urged western governments not to let up pressure.
"The situation in Darfur is bad," she said. "There needs to be a more concerted effort from everyone, and a larger discussion about the future of Darfur."
Desmond Tutu will be joined on the six-day trip, which starts on September 30th, by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, ex-US president Jimmy Carter and Mr Mandela's wife Graca Machel.
It is understood that, as well as meeting government officials, local community leaders and people displaced from their homes, The Elders' delegation will try to persuade rebel leaders to engage fully in peace negotiations - scheduled to start in Libya on October 27th.
It is the first major initiative from The Elders, an organisation launched two months ago by a collection of Nobel laureates and former premiers with a view to helping to reduce conflict in the world. Ms Robinson said the organisation was determined to make a difference under "a very, very active chair in Tutu".
The group is currently planning further initiatives on global public health, and on raising awareness for the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December.
In a visit that was "very much linked" to The Elders, Ms Robinson travelled to eastern Chad earlier this month to inspect conditions in refugee camps.
According to UN estimates, at least 200,000 people have died and two million people have been displaced from the combined effect of war and famine since the Darfur conflict started.
Up to 200,000 Darfur refugees have fled to Chad, while 150,000 Chadians have been displaced by cross-border violence.
Ms Robinson welcomed the planned deployment of an EU military force to eastern Chad to improve security in the camps. However, she said, "it is very important that it is not seen as a mainly French effort".
As the former colonial power in Chad, France was "very close" to the Chadian government, she said, and to avoid accusations of bias the EU force should incorporate personnel from a range of countries.
Ms Robinson said she had been "pleading" with Germany to commit police officers to the force, including a significant contingent of women police.
"Because of their experiences, the women in the camps are terrified of men in uniform. At the moment, they feel it is not safe in the camps, or outside." The former president was due last night to discuss the security situation in the Chadian camps with the US, Sudanese, French and UK ambassadors to the UN at a meeting in New York. Ms Robinson said she had already met the Sudanese ambassador this week and "he says they will definitely declare a ceasefire on October 27th, whatever anyone else does. He knows how bad the situation is on the ground".