The Darfur Australia Network

By Lucy Cane, DAN volunteer

The Darfur Australia Network (DAN) is a not-for-profit community organisation based in Sydney and Melbourne. One of the main goals of the group is to raise awareness about the ongoing tragedy in Darfur. Despite the magnitude of this crisis, many Australians are largely unaware of the issue. We hope to change this by putting Darfur squarely on the public radar and encouraging others to engage with the issue. The more people that become aware of the conflict in Darfur and debate the best way forward, the more pressure will grow to bring about sustainable change within the region.

A second goal of the DAN is to assist in the settlement of Darfuri refugees in Australia. DAN is a joint initiative between Darfuri refugees and other Australians. Volunteers work with the Darfuri communities of Sydney and Melbourne to assess their needs and, where possible, connect them to service providers. Crucially, DAN also enables the Darfuri members of the group to have their voices heard by the wider Australian public. All Australians can make a difference to the Darfur crisis by building solidarity with Darfuri refugees, listening to their stories and working together to bring the crisis into the open.

A third goal of DAN is to advocate appropriate policy responses from the Australian government regarding Darfur. The Australian government has a moral obligation to maximise the probabilities of bringing change to Darfur. For example, it is important that the Australian government do more to encourage peace negotiations in Darfur via international diplomacy. In particular, we must maintain pressure on China – a country known to support the murderous government in Sudan.

Another method through which the Australian government can assist the people of Darfur is through their immigration policy. In recent times, there has been a drastic decrease in the number of refugees accepted into Australia from Africa. Sadly, the immigration minister and others in the media have attempted to justify this move by claiming that African refugees fail to ‘integrate’ in Australian society. All members of DAN regard these comments to be unfounded and know first hand of the enthusiasm with which African refugees embrace Australian society. We hope that more Australians can engage with African refugees and appreciate the unique contribution these brave people make to our community. DAN believes that Australians from all walks of life must learn from each other and work together in expressing a shared commitment to peace.

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.