14 Mar 2006: ISS Today: AU Tables Ceasfire Plan for Darfur
14 MARCH 2006: AU TABLES NEW CEASEFIRE PLAN FOR DARFUR
estelle shirbon, reuters
Mediators in peace talks on Sudan’s Darfur region on Sunday presented the warring parties with a detailed ceasefire proposal designed to work better than an existing, often violated agreement. The African Union (AU), which has 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur and is mediating peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja, said demilitarisation of humanitarian supply routes and of displaced persons’ camps were key elements of the plan.
Commentary
The current round of Darfur peace talks in Abuja is the seventh since the conclusion of a ceasefire agreement in N’Djamena in April 2004. In the last few weeks it has become evident that this round, too, is close to breaking down with little achieved beyond a vague commitment to ambiguous principles. In Darfur itself the plight of the civilian population is said to be worse now than at any time since the height of the conflict. The Sudanese government has shown no sign of complying with its undertakings to the UN to curb the activities of the tribal militias it uses as proxies in the war against the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The rebel movements themselves have fractured badly along personal, ethnic and generational lines, making command and control tenuous at best. New militias that are forming in communities hitherto marginal to the fighting fear they will also fall victim to marauding forces.
In these circumstances the international humanitarian community finds it impossible to access many of the affected populations. The AU’s latest proposals should be seen in this context, but also as a warning to the principal protagonists that diplomatic patience is wearing thin. Salim Ahmed Salim, who occupies the unenviable position of chief negotiator for the AU team, has made it clear that any party who obstructs the augmentation of the ceasefire to allow for humanitarian assistance to reach those in need, will demonstrate their lack of seriousness about finding a peaceful solution.
The AU has extended until 30 September the mandate of its observer and monitoring mission in Darfur (AMIS), following which it is expected that the UN will takeover responsibility, albeit with a force principally composed of African troops and under African command. Khartoum insists that there should be a peace agreement before that time, and will continue to obstruct a UN deployment which would have a more robust mandate and the ability to gather evidence of war crimes for presentation to the International Criminal Court. Even a UN preparatory military assessment mission may find its way obstructed by Sudanese officialdom, past masters at this kind of tactic.
As the conflict has worn on and the rebel factions have fragmented and other essentially non-political criminal elements have joined in the mayhem, it is increasingly difficult to know how any agreements reached and initialled in Abuja might actually be implemented on the ground. Certainly, without the presence of a well-equipped, experienced and financed international monitoring force able to intervene where necessary to protect the unarmed civilians who comprise almost all of the war’s victims to date, one is entitled to entertain serious doubts.
Richard Cornwell
