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New Proposal to Alleviate Darfur Crisis

Amit Pyakurel - 6/28/2007

It's all the grieving situation with about 200,000 dead and over 2 million people displaced due to, what we perceive, as one of the most glaring humanitarian crisis of today in Darfur. The dread only seems to be elevating and the crisis has ever been sustaining its grip in the region, albeit the international efforts lurking with one or the other humanitarian aides, including the imposition of harsh measures, like economic sanctions by the U.S. and other UN member states, in an attempt to discourage the internecine war taking place between the rebelling groups and the government deployed troops in the region.

Amid the international grief and concern on the worsening situation in Darfur, there's been a fresh call from the newly-elected French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to highly prioritize the aim for peace in the region through an improved international effort, in a recent international meeting over Darfur called by the President.

In the meeting held between the eighteen countries, including the heads of the United Nations, the Arab League, the Group of Eight industrialized nations, and China, the president promised an additional aid of $13.4 million to the African Union (AU) force operating to maintain peace in the region. Similarly, Spain vowed to provide $13.4 million, half aimed for the mixture of the UN and AU peace keeping forces and the other half for the humanitarian support.

EU said it would provide $40 million for the further humanitarian aid. However, the summit dealt with only few concrete steps, including: when and how the troops would be set up and how they would be funded, although it ended with some positive signs, given that the nations who met expressed their commitment to support the political method and other peacekeeping schemes to recover the desolated Darfur.

Sarkozy said that the "silence is killing," citing the inactivity of the international community to address the crisis, as all the member states participating in the meeting agreed to continue supporting the current efforts to bring peace to this dilapidated region. "The lack of decision and the lack of action is unacceptable," said Sarkozy, while demanding a stiff posture against the warring groups in the region whom, he said, have been declining to negotiate.

France's renewed effort to salvage Darfur, through the hands of newly-elected Sarkozy, after the country's less sympathetic role during the past four years in the presidency of Jacques Chirac who often used to have tickly relations with the U.S., is deemed positive. However, cracking into the complexity of the crisis and clearing the distrusts among the main stakeholders of the conflict seems too difficult for the international efforts alone. This has further been illustrated by the event that the crucial stakeholders like Sudanese government, Darfur rebels, and other neighboring countries were not invited to the meeting. And, though invited, the AU declined to participate causing that the meeting was a distraction from its mediation efforts in the region, according to the BBC.

Alongside its ever reproving approach towards Sudan, the U.S. has praised the Sarkozy's wish to salvage Darfur. The U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has welcomed the initiative of the France's new conservative-led leadership to solve the region's crisis. As Sudan has eventually agreed for the deployment of the larger international forces to contain this four-year-old conflict, an array of optimism has surfaced because a better international involvement would help more in this effort.

However, Ms. Rice remained wary on her stance on Sudan, saying that the world must be ready to impose sanctions on Sudan if it fail to fulfill its promise to let more peacekeeping forces into Darfur. The doubt seems rational given the Sudan's past records of not fully living up with the peace agreements. Before agreeing in this latest occasion, Sudan had initially accepted the proposal in November last year but then eventually backed off. Sudan also didn't fully comply with a peace agreement signed with one of its rebel groups in May 2006.

On the flip-side, China, which is considered as a diplomatic defender and a vital trade partner of Sudan, has once again voiced its dissent over the proposed, "harsher" sanction, as it had been doing before. While, analysts has highly granted that China's role is crucial to end the Darfur's crisis, considering that the Chinese authority is closely associated with the Sudanese government. John Prendergast and Colin Thomas-Jensen of the Enough Project, in their strategy paper, said that a strategic division of labor between Washington, Paris, and Beijing could yield a very effective good cop/bad cop, insider/outsider approach to bringing peace and stability to Sudan.

As stated by the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Darfur needs a comprehensive solution that range from provision of the food aid and ensuring of education and security to the refugees, for the problem in the region to be solved.

Citing the deteriorating condition in Darfur, Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organization, has stressed for a political solution for the region. It recommended that negotiations should be held including all the parties involved in the conflict, while the local people and the armed forces deployed in the region should duly consider the work and perception of humanitarian organizations. The organization also suggested that the air-support system of the United Nations, which is already in place in Darfur, must be strengthened, especially the helicopter fleet, to allow humanitarian actors access zones that otherwise cannot be reached.

President Bush had called U.S. sanctions against Sudan last month, but the decision was held back on the request of the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon. Though remaining not so strict on sanctions, Mr. Ban said that the Sudanese government must follow its commitments and insisted that the rebel leaders show "flexibility and political leadership."

The foreign aides are making its difficult way to the region due to the number of rebel groups, as many as ten, unlike in the past when there were only two rebel groups operating against the government forces. Lack of a specific and common ground of interest among the various rebel outfits has made the situation worse. Analysts state that at least the rebels should decide what they need in common for any peace negotiation to take place. Also, besides the hearty international effort, the role of the Sudanese government yet is crucial. As unless it complies and completely live up with the peace agreement to allow the international community to get involved in the region, unlike in the past, the situation in Darfur is likely to lengthen and worsen.