The Sudan Darfur peace needs new perspective
Sudan, Analysis, 5/3/2006

The Darfur region located in west Sudan has gained much attention for the suffering the Sudanese in that area have and are facing as a result of tribal and ethnic fighting taking place.

The government of Sudan is dominated by the Arab ethnic group. The government is accused of supporting Janjawid Arab tribal militias, who are accused of attacking villages and areas belonging to non-Arab areas, and those of the rebels.

The fighting in the area is said to have started over land and water resources with government neglect of the region compounding the matter which in 2003 erupted into an armed rebellion. Some 200,000 are said to have been killed along with 2 million Sudanese displaced from their homes.

A similar rebellion in the south of Sudan was resolved last year and a peace agreement by the southern rebels and the government was signed and has been observed by both sides ever since.

The Darfur rebels and the government are in the process of negotiating a peace agreement. While these talks are ongoing, and possibly after, there is a need to have peace and safety in the area for the Darfur residence. The African Union had agreed and deployed a force of some 7000 soldiers to help, but these numbers are said to be extremely inadequate for the job, whether in number or resources, since the area is said to be the size of France. Some have suggested at least tripling the size of the African Union forces to 21,000.

The US has been very aggressively trying to impose UN forces on Sudan despite the Sudanese government's opposition to such forces. Sudan has reason to be suspicious of US and UK's intentions. The US wants to have UN forces on the ground by forcing a UN Security Council resolution to this effect.

This approach to achieving peace, I believe, is inappropriate, because it is based on coercion of the Sudanese government, and fails to promote the greater peace in Africa as well.

If the US and the UK are sincere in their desire for peace for the area, then simply giving the money and resources that would be spent on a UN force, to forces of the African Union, would solve the problem. The US would get more forces on the ground, and Sudan already welcomes African Union forces, and the people of Darfur would get the needed forces to ensure their protection.

On top of this, there is a side benefit to this approach. The African Union would be provided with funds that will add to its experience and resources to develop effective forces to deal with its own problems. Africa is badly in need of such ability, and letting Africans deal and learn to deal with their own problems would be a great plus. Africa has lived with colonialism for a long time, and it is time these colonialist powers and others to give Africa resources to deal with its own problem, away from the suspicions of foreign intervention and intentions.

If peace and Darfur citizens welfare is at heart, and not politics, then this seems like a solution to this problem.

By,
Jamil Kazoun

Previous Stories:
  On security in Chad Sudanese refugee camps   (5/2/2006)
  Darfur agreement delayed   (5/1/2006)
  Sudan peace agreement needs to be a lasting agreement   (10/11/2003)

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