Peace negotiations in Darfur

Darfuri refugee Adam Khamis provides an up-to-date analysis of peace negotiations in Darfur:

The peace negotiation in Libya has not been very successful, due to the one-sided nature of the Libyan Government's mediation in ending the conflict in Darfur and the refusal of most rebel leaders to travel to Libya.

The rebels do not trust Libya’s leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. Furthermore Sudan’s regime brought with them groups of individuals who, under the pretense of being involved in a ‘movement,’ attempted to negotiate with the rebels. The idea that Libya would be the place for negotiation has only been discussed between Sudan’s President Omar Bashir and Ghaddafi.

China is also a major obstacle to securing peace in Darfur. China's role since the beginning of Darfur’s crisis has been negative as China is Sudan's largest arms supplier. Even now, rather than advising the Sudanese regime to resolve Darfur’s crisis China continues to sell weapons to Sudanese regime. China has a poor human rights record and is only interested in securing its business's interests. Recently however China has been trying to improve both. While it is appearing to help Darfur's crisis so as to avoid trouble in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, China still maintains its arms provisions to the Sudanese Regime, sending mixed messages to the world.

To resolve the crisis a few things need to happen. The conflict must be suspended, to cease the ongoing killing of our people and protecting them from the genocide being executed by Khartoum. The Janjaweed and other government militias must be disarmed and the new settlers removed from our people’s land.

In our view, these steps will create an environment conducive to a peaceful political settlement. Discussions for conflict resolution must include the root causes of the problem and obtain a total agreement. From there, all parties can begin building positive relations among our people in Darfur and initiate durable projects for sustainable development. This includes the extension of public services, the further enhancement of the operational effectiveness of the security sector, the effective reintegration of all ex-combatants and overall socio-economic development.