First posted at Save Darfur….please also see my colleague Robert’s post with our initial reaction to the Sudan Policy Review.
This morning Secretary Clinton, Ambassador Rice, and General Gration all spoke of the “sense of urgency” in dealing with Sudan’s interlocking crises. Two breaking headlines from Sudan today confirm the urgent necessity of finding a durable solution to Darfur and preventing the collapse of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
First, Bloomberg News is reporting that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement announced today that it will boycott parliament for a week to pressure the country’s ruling party to amend bills including one that gives “unlimited powers” to intelligence services. This move comes after a weekend where the National Congress Party and SPLM reached a tentative compromise on the referendum.Yet, this progress was not enough to meet the SPLM’s ultimatum last week that gave parliament a week to make significant progress on a number of pieces of critical legislation:
“We want to see a parliamentary schedule for the discussion of all the nine laws,” Yasser Arman, head of the former rebel group’s northern sector, told reporters today in Khartoum. “The current security law allows for detention, search and arrest, and gives a lot of immunity to the security body. And this is against the constitution.”
Arman goes on to say that the NCP now has until October 26; otherwise the SPLM will boycott the remaining sessions in parliament that run until November 30.
The other troubling news comes from UNAMID, the African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur, which released the following warning about a noticeable increase in military activities in Darfur:
UNAMID personnel in the field have recently observed a sizable and unusual increase in military activities by the Government of Sudan (GoS) and Sudan Liberation Army/Abdul Wahid Faction (SLA/AW) forces, notably in the areas of Sortony and Kabkabiya in North Darfur. UNAMID is gravely concerned by this build-up as it may signal the impending start of a new cycle of armed confrontations in the area.
UNAMID wishes to emphasize that armed clashes invariably result in casualties and fatalities among combatants and in dire consequences for the civilian population, with loss of life, destruction of property, and massive displacement, thus negating the gains made so far in attempts to restore peace to Darfur.
UNAMID solemnly calls on all parties involved to refrain from resorting to violence and reiterates its conviction that the only way for a peaceful resolution of the conflict is through dialogue and negotiations.
These troubling reports demonstrate why – as Secretary Clinton remarked – the conflicts and issues in Sudan “cannot be ignored or willed away” and why the U.S. government must immediately begin implementing a policy that “empowers the people of Sudan to solve their own problems.” The status quo no doubt portends the worse for Sudanese. The complex diplomatic tasks at hand require – as we have called – the full leveraging of every relevant piece of the U.S. government and the generation from the administration of multilateral, coordinated support.
no comment until now