KHARTOUM: Is Darfur the world’s latest forgotten crisis? A May peace deal signed by only one of three negotiating rebel factions and rejected by tens of thousands of people in Sudan’s vast west has given the world an excuse to remove the conflict from top foreign policy priorities, analysts say.
“The signing of the peace agreement unfortunately took a lot of effort from large parts of the international community and very little after that in terms of monitoring, pushing for implementation and holding parties accountable,” said Dave Mozersky, Sudan analyst for the International Crisis Group.
But what the world has agreed to call peace, still looks very much like war.
In July Darfur saw the bloodiest month for the world’s largest aid operation since the conflict began 3-1/2 years ago with eight humanitarian workers killed. Access to the 3.6 million dependent on aid is at its lowest ever level.
Government planes are again bombing rebel factions who rejected the deal, UN officials say. Rebel leader Minni Arcua Minnawi, who signed the accord, is accused of torturing his opposition, and other rebels have factionalised. A new alliance has declared renewed war with the government.
UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said in Geneva on Thursday: “It is going from really bad to catastrophic in Darfur.”
Khartoum denies the security situation has deteriorated since the May accord and says implementation of the deal is going well, though key elements are yet to be decided.
A government plan to disarm militias blamed for atrocities in Darfur has not been made public. Sudan has not agreed to allow UN peacekeepers into the country to replace AU troops who have been unable to stem the violence and who have now become the targets of angry and frustrated Darfuris.
Washington usually focuses on Sudan as one of few issues to unite its far right and far left lobbies. Concerns from slavery to the persecution of Christians by Sudanese government all attract editorials in major US newspapers.
But the most active US policymaker on Sudan, US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, resigned in June and Washington has not responded to demands to appoint a special envoy for Africa’s largest country.
“A special envoy to Darfur will be saddled with a diplomatic failure. I suspect there is a reluctance to appoint any such envoy,” said actress Mia Farrow, a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, who has visited Darfur twice since the crisis began.—Reuters
