10 May 2006: ISS Today: AU Interpreter Killed as UN Aid Chief Tours Darfur
KALMA CAMP, Sudan, May 8 (Reuters) - Angry demonstrators killed a Sudanese interpreter working with African Union forces in Darfur on Monday in riots that broke out during a senior U.N. official`s visit to a camp for displaced Sudanese.
Jan Egeland, the U.N. under-secretary for humanitarian affairs, said the man was killed in an African Union police station after Egeland and his entourage beat a hasty retreat from the Kalma camp in the face of violent protests.
"It turned out to be a lynching mob who entered the building the wrecked everything and they killed a Sudanese employee of the AU, an interpreter," he told reporters travelling with him.
Commentary
The signing of the most recent Darfur Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the main rebel faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) on the 6 May has been met by both international observers and Sudanese alike with a mixture of relief and caution. Certainly, the stop-start process that has characterised the Abuja talks over its 18-month history set a poor precedent for the final deadline set for the 30 April. It was thus no surprise that the deadline was twice postponed and extended to the early hours of Saturday 6 May. While Abuja became the diplomatic hub of action bringing all possible interlocutors from the US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick to the AU Commission Head Alpha Konare and the Arab League to bear down of the parties, questions on whether such a ‘deadline diplomacy’ approach could bring lasting peace abounded. And this most recent report on killing of an African Union interpreter is a sign of the inherently fractured nature of political mobilisation in Darfur. For those over 2 million displaced Darfurians, a deal that has not been signed by both Zaghawa and majority Fur peoples alike is likely to be viewed as another mechanism for stalling peace, regardless of the intentions of the Government of Sudan.
Indeed, the main critique of Saturday’s signing is that the deal like many other peace agreements that have littered the continent, offers an incomplete peace because it is not acceptable to all parties. In this case, the voice of the Justice and Equality Movement who overtly reject the agreement offers a warning sound as to the fragility of such a peace. And while the JEM, led by Khalil Ebrahim, have argued that the economic and political marginalisation of Fur people has been at the root of the conflict, its perceived links to the Hassan Al-Turabi of the opposition party Popular National Congress (PNC) adds to the complexity of their non-engagement in the process. In addition another faction that has carved itself out of the Abdel Wahid Nour group of the split SLA is that of Abdel-Rahman Musa who have signed the agreement and in doing so have attempted to isolate Nour’s support base.
However, as the days since the signing of the agreement show no real letting up of the violence and the uncertainty of civilian protection continues to hang over the region, new rumblings around the possible non-implementation of the deal are getting louder. This time it is the main faction of the SLA who is calling for a rejection of the deal. While the reports are unconfirmed at this stage, local internet based news on Sudan suggest that a faction of the SLA led by Minni Minnawi’s political adviser, Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim, have called on UN Secretary General Annan to stop the implementation of the deal. According to Sudan Tribune, this action comes as a result of the belief that Minnawi signed the deal under undue pressure. Should these reports of abrogation prove to be true, it will only buoy the JEM and SLA Wahid Nour elements of the much fractured Darfurian political landscape. Once more it points to the inherent weaknesses in a peace deal concluded and motivated by what is often called the ‘CNN factor’. The pressure on implementation from an international perspective has its limitations and it is important to acknowledge this. To believe that such pressure will provide the magic potion to unlocking the peace is to deny the complexity of local based politics. What is often neglected in the analysis of the Darfur conflict, more so than any ascription of the violence to ‘Arab’ versus ‘African’ antagonism as a root cause, is the basic fight for sustainable livelihoods. With the increasing desertification of the many parts of the Arid Northern Darfur state and the shrinkage in pastures for the Nomadic peoples, the relevance of a peace deal on paper is likely to be seen as an intellectual pursuit. Certainly, the long term viability of the Darfur region depends on making development a priority.
While the critiques of the deals incomplete nature cannot be dismissed, attention will now have to be placed on the way in which the ‘spoiler’ elements are contained. From a military perspective analysts are generally of the view that the JEM are not necessarily a formidable fighting force, and now separated from their association with Minni Minnawi’s larger SLA faction, the JEM are not expected to offer a traditional threat to security in Darfur. However, their ideological stance as it relates to the broader National Congress Party and Popular Congress Party rivalry in Khartoum may be used as a powerful form of propaganda that may militate against the implementation of the deal.
The points of concern now as the deal comes under pressure, is to what extent will the security situation be improved or can it be realistically improved under the auspices of the currently short-staffed and under-resourced African Union mission? How will the threat of ICC prosecution play into the consideration of a ‘re-hatting’ of the mission to a United Nations Mission? And which troop contributing countries are likely to offer their support for what will indeed be a ‘long-haul’ mission?
Of course added to this is the fact that should peace be ‘delayed’, the spill-over effects into neighbouring Chad will mean that any new attempts at peace would necessarily require a more regional approach to the problem. For now, it is hoped that all eyes will remain on Darfur even when it is not headline news.
Mariam Jooma
