Positive developments witnessed in Darfur despite challenges- Xinhua
April 9, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The western Sudanese region of Darfur has witnessed recently some positive developments illustrating an improvement of the situation there in various aspects, local officials and members of a former rebel movement said.
In the political field, a peace agreement, which was signed between the Sudanese government and a main rebel faction last May, has been steadily implemented by both sides, with prominent members of the former rebel faction participating in executive and legislative authorities on the federal and local levels.
The smooth implementation of the peace agreement has enhanced the confidence of Darfurians in the sincerity of the government in Khartoum on the final peace in the region.
Meanwhile, no major conflicts have been registered between the government army and rebel forces for nearly one year, in spite of the fact that sporadic and bloody fightings have taken place in some parts of the region mainly between tribal militias and factions of the rebel movements.
The latest clashes between two Arab tribes reportedly detonated by disputes over livestock in a remote area in South Darfur claimed dozens of lives.
Al-Haj Ata al-Manan, Governor of South Darfur which accommodates some 65 percent of the population of the whole Darfurregion, refuted the argument that the Darfur conflict was taking place only along the fighting line between the Arab nomads and African tribesmen, saying that the so-called “genocide” of the Arabs against African black people was only a myth fabricated by western countries.
“Among the persons sitting in the room, there is one gentleman belonging to the Fur tribe, the biggest African tribe in Darfur, and another gentleman coming from southern Sudan, can you distinguish them from us?” he asked, adding “we are all black.” Al-Manan classified the conflicts in Darfur into three kinds, namely the inter-tribal clashes, armed robberies and rebellions, noting that all these kinds of conflicts had repeatedly taken place for a very long time.
“The current conflict is only one link of a long chain, and when we untie this link we probably get another,” he said, adding that the stability of the region could only be maintained without foreign interference.
The governor said that among the nine provinces in his state, there were only three provinces had registered clashes while the other six were totally stable.
He attributed the improvement of the situation in Darfur to the efforts exerted by the Sudanese government and the African Union (AU) as well as the signing of the AU-sponsored Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in the Nigerian capital Abuja last May.
In addition, the number of refugees, which the Sudanese government put at less than one million, has not obviously increased in the past two years, forecasting an end of the deteriorating cycle although the crisis is still serious.
Challenges facing the international community and the parties concerned are how to provide food, health and education services to the refugees, which constitutes one fifth of the Darfur population, and how to guarantee the access of humanitarian assistances to the hands of the refugees and the safety of humanitarian workers and finally to help the refugees return home.
“The only way to solve the Darfur problem is the realization of peace by negotiations,” said Osman Mohammed Yousef Kibir, Governor of North Darfur, calling on the international society to exert more pressures on the rebel movements which had refused to sign the peace agreement to come back to the negotiation table.
However, some other observers doubted the possibility of achieving a comprehensive peace in the near future.
“There were three rebel movements when the Abuja peace talks started in 2005, but now there are more than 18 rebel groups,” a member of the North Darfur Legislative Council said, adding “I don’t know how many groups must be invited finally to resume the negotiations.”
(Xinhua)