- As the final peace deal is signed between the Khartoum government and the rebels of South Sudan, there is no end in sight for the warfare in Darfur. Continuing atrocities in the western region of Darfur and impunity for war crimes in the South jeopardise prospects for any comprehensive peace in Sudan, human rights groups warn today.
The final peace accords - known as the Naivasha Protocols for the Kenyan city where negotiations took place since June 2002 - are scheduled to be signed in Nairobi by the Sudanese government and the main southern rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) on 9 January. The remaining protocols of this peace deal had been signed on 31 December, just leaving the overall document to be signed next weekend.
The UN today stated its optimism on the prospects of peace for all Sudan given the upcoming ceremony in Kenya. The UN Security Council voiced hope that the north-south agreement will "play a role in resolving the separate conflict engulfing the country's Darfur region in the west," the UN reports.
In the view of the Security Council, the north-south peace should "have a positive impact on the situation in Darfur." This is because the north-south deal, ending more than two decades of civil war, could be a model for a peace deal in Darfur, several UN officials have earlier indicated.
The UN officials however represent the Western view regarding the crisis in Sudan. The north-south deal - realised through pressure from the US and Europe and against the original will of African nations - breaks with all principles of African national states. It gives South Sudan an option of full independence after six years of transition, although the territory never was ruled as one colony, but from Khartoum.
This option cannot be given to the Darfur region, most non-Westerners agree. Only an option of more autonomy for Darfur and other Sudanese regions can be offered, as contemplated by the Khartoum government. The African peace initiative for Darfur leans towards the Nigerian federal model, although this far from has secured peace in Nigeria.
Also another part of the north-south peace deal makes it hard to use as a model for the rest of Sudan. The Naivasha peace agreement lacks any provision for a truth commission, prosecutions or other forms of accountability for past abuses in the southern conflict. Impunity for he many past war crimes in the South has become a fact.
- Even as the Naivasha agreement is being celebrated in the South, people are being raped and burned out of their homes in Darfur, noted Peter Takirambudde of the New York-based group Human Rights Watch today. "The Security Council must clearly send Sudan the message that there will be no impunity for crimes of this magnitude," he added.
The human rights group is therefore critical towards the north-south peace deal, with its possibility of create precedence. "The peace agreement is an important step, but lasting peace in Sudan will require genuine security for civilians and justice for the atrocities committed both in Darfur and southern Sudan," said Mr Takirambudde.
Impunity for the many grave war crimes committed in Darfur however is not currently considered a possibility, in particular by the powerful Western nations. The UN Security Council has made several resolutions saying that those responsible for the ethnic cleansing in Darfur will be held responsible. These, according to the West, are mostly representatives and allies of the Khartoum government.
The UN Security Council in September authorised the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed in Darfur and to determine whether genocide has occurred. If the commission finds proof of genocide preparations or other serious crimes committed in Darfur, this will complicate a possible peace deal for the region.
Meanwhile, and despite a ceasefire and the Security Council's optimism, fighting is continuing in Darfur. By now, tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.85 million others live as refugees or internally displaced persons.
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afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
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