Guide Darfur in the Shadows: The Sudanese Government’s Ongoing Attacks on Civilians and Human Rights

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Yet, most frighteningly, and in an appalling repetition of history, the Sudanese government has spent the past 18 months deploying the same brutal tactics it used in Darfur to crush an armed rebellion in another part of Sudan. Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states, often called the "Two Areas", are two little-known corners of one of the biggest countries in Africa, which might soon be as notorious as Darfur — unless the world takes action.

As in Darfur, civilians in the Two Areas, mainly women and children, have been caught in the crossfire as the Sudanese armed forces wage war far from the attention of the world's media. In an effort to drive the population from their land through fear and starvation, the government of Sudan has blocked humanitarian assistance to the Two Areas, targeted civilians through indiscriminate aerial bombardment and ground attacks, and carefully timed offensives designed to disrupt the planting and harvesting seasons. The UN estimates that over 1.

Many are living on one meal every five days; independent experts now warn that parts of southern Kordofan and Blue Nile face the very real prospect of a man-made famine by April Coping mechanisms have been largely exhausted and recent visitors report refugees resorting to eating roots and leaves and being forced to live in caves. As we recognise the ten-year anniversary of the conflict in Darfur, it is time to learn from the lessons of history.

A decade ago, the UN security council neglected atrocities in Darfur, failing to recognise the significance of this remote conflict for wider peace across the region — and doing so with devastating consequences. This cycle threatens to recur, as the security council — the world's premier body for peace, security and the protection of people — remains largely silent on the plight of the people of the Two Areas, failing to back up its own resolutions on this conflict and not putting its political muscle behind African Union plans to end the suffering.

History cannot be allowed to repeat itself: it is not too late to stand up and be a voice for the people of Sudan. This web site features current news briefs in English and Arabic and selected downloads from radio broadcasts in Arabic. Our mission is to raise public awareness and to mobilize an effective unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of two million people in the Darfur region. The site features news, reports, and maps.

For each country in the IDP survey, the document collection includes an overall summary, population figures, social indicators, and some analyses. The website features reports on conflict resolution and peace initiatives by Canadian Christian missionary organizations in Sudan This site features program news and position papers. An official website of the Sudanese government in Arabic and in English, with basic information about the system of government and the country.

SSP combines satellite imagery analysis and field reports with Google's Map Maker technology to deter the resumption of war between North and South Sudan. SIRP seeks to provide a platform for scholars especially Sudanese concerned with the provision of accurate, well-researched, independent materials to contribute to the development of The Sudan and the Sudanese peoples in a broad sense. The site features publications by the movement which stands in opposition to the current government in Khartoum and links to news reports.

Failure to address issues of power-sharing and a continued security dilemma in a peace process might lead to the breakdown of the peace settlement. Furthermore, Licklider notes that a workable and sustainable peace settlement usually must address root causes of the conflict, involve all parties in the conflict, and deal with the security dilemma of actors.

William Zartman, in his article titled "The Timing of Peace Initiatives: Hurting Stalemates and Ripe Moments", articulates that resolving conflicts through a negotiated settlement requires a "ripeness" for resolution. Thus, the parties enter negotiations as a way out of the deadlock or stalemate.

However, for Zartman, the ripe moment has a deadline. Unless the disputants negotiate and end the conflict through peaceful means while it is ripe for resolution, then they resort to violence and conflict escalates. Desiree Nilsson, in her book entitled In the Shadows of Settlement: Multiple Rebel Groups and Precarious Peace , argues that the number of warring parties and their military strength, and inclusion of all rebel groups and unarmed actors are significant aspects that determine whether a peace process results in a durable peace agreement.

Similarly, a disparity in military capabilities among warring parties causes the weaker parties to feel insecure since they then lack bargaining power at the table and the leverage to support their claims. As a result, weaker parties could also spoil negotiation efforts because of feeling bypassed and overwhelmed by militarily stronger adversaries.

Stedman argues that the greatest risk to a peace process comes from spoilers-armed and unarmed groups or parties who believe that the outcome of the negotiations would not serve their interests. Stedman further articulates that those outside of the settlement would pose a major threat to the prospects for durable peace as they believe their interests are not represented in the settlement. Spoilers use violence to undermine the peace process and to achieve their ends, which proves to be catastrophic for prospects of a durable peace.

While the aforementioned peace literature covers some common ground, the principles this literature proposes do attempt to explain distinct perspectives of peace process in different contexts of conflicts. In analyzing the factors that have undermined the Darfur peace process, this paper refers to these aforementioned principles.

Darfur in the Shadows: The Sudanese Government’s Ongoing Attacks on Civilians and Human Rights

Although in the international community disagreed about the Darfur conflict, the appalling human suffering in the region gradually gained regional and international attention. Chadian President Idriss Deby led the first peace initiative largely because he feared a spill-over effect in Chad if the conflict in Darfur escalated.

However, further Chadian attempts failed because the rebels questioned the impartiality of President Deby as mediator. In May , the AU assumed leadership of the process and through its mediation the government of Sudan and the rebels signed an "Agreement on the Modalities for the Establishment of the Ceasefire Commission and Deployment of Observers" in Addis Ababa. Until the spring of , the UN and key western countries, such as the U.

As Alex de Waal puts it, "fearing the north-south peace would be held hostage to an intractable conflict in Darfur, the international community made the talks between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement SPLM the priority. Although the international community hailed the DPA as a major success, and even though many people hoped that it might finally put an end to the crisis in Darfur, nothing substantial has changed in Darfur.

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DPA implementation fell far short and consequently it has failed to fulfill the expectations of the people of Darfur. The negotiations could not make progress without the presence of the major rebel leaders and, finally, the mediators postponed the negotiations to an unspecified time.

The Darfur peace process has thus far failed to bring a lasting peace to the violence-plagued region of Darfur. Earlier in the introduction section, this paper identified five major factors that stymied the Darfur peace process.

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The following sub-sections will discuss these five factors in detail. In the context of civil war or intrastate conflict, mutual trust is a crucial factor for serious negotiations toward a sustainable peace agreement.


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Mutual trust ensures confidence between the actors, increases their willingness to negotiate and compromise, avoids the 'security dilemma', and helps them feel secure with the outcome of the negotiations. According to Darby and MacGinty, a successful peace process requires "that the protagonists are willing to negotiate in good faith," and "that the negotiators are committed to a sustained process. Discussing factors that undermine peace negotiations, Adrian Guelke identifies "the pursuit of irreconcilable aims by major antagonists" as among the major obstacles for a negotiated settlement.

In the Darfur peace process, trust and confidence between the GoS and the rebel movements has been unimpressive. From the very beginning, the parties did not negotiate seriously. Bad faith on all sides hampered the N'Djamena and Addis Ababa peace efforts. Instead they "rejected the claims of their adversaries, traded accusations, recriminations and insults. Two factors might have created mistrust between the government and rebels.

First, the appalling scale of the violence and atrocities have perhaps incited hatred and broken relationships among various tribes in Darfur who previously had good relations. This point has been evident in the Darfur conflict.

Sudan elected to the UN Human Rights Commission while grave violations still perpetrated

A report by the UN Commission of Inquiry for Darfur assert the Sudanese army and its proxy Arab militias continue to conduct "indiscriminate attacks, including killing civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging, and forced displacement, throughout Darfur. Second, the GoS lacks the political commitment to find a negotiated and durable settlement to the conflict.

With this it has tried to intimidate the rebels and undermine their position in the talks. The government describes the rebels as unrepresentative of the people of Darfur, and instead portrays them as armed bandits fighting for their own self-interests. Also, the government refused to make concessions to the rebels.

On the other hand, the rebels "viewed the government as a perfidious, evil regime that repeatedly[had] broken its promises.

Amnesty accuses Sudan of deadly Darfur chemical attacks

However, the Khartoum government did not have the political will to negotiate with the rebels, and the central government immediately removed Ibrahim Suleiman from his post. Furthermore, the government had never lived up to its promises when it agreed to negotiate because of regional and international pressure.

In mid-September , government forces and Minawi's forces launched a coordinated offensive to crush the rebel groups who did not sign the DPA, and also targeted communities who supported those rebels. Rebel mistrust of the government, therefore, proved a fatal blow to the Darfur peace process. From the early stages of the Abuja talks, the rebel leaders demanded guarantees from the international community that the government addresses security in Darfur and implements the ceasefire agreements of and The rebels wanted to ensure that the government would stop attacking rebels and civilians, disarm the Arab proxy militia, and permit humanitarian efforts.

However, they could not get assurances from the government or from the international community.

As a result, the Abuja talks of collapsed without producing any political settlement. Also, in the Abuja talks of and that led to the DPA, the rebel movements demanded a guaranty for the implementation of the agreement. They could not trust the GoS. Without the signature of those two key rebel leaders, the DPA collapsed before the implementation process began.

Similarly, the October Sirte peace negotiations collapsed, in part, because key rebels refused to attend the talks until the government stopped attacking, upheld its political commitment, and improved security on the ground. In any peace process, mediators and external actors who influence the mediation process play a dominant role in its success or failure.

Though often mediators and external actors have a positive role in the peace process, there are times when they have helped to induce failure.


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According to Licklider, mediators "seem increasingly to be oriented toward bringing about peace, which in practice means some sort of negotiated settlement, even if some sort of players want the settlement skewed in favor of one side. Ostensibly, internal violence is often promoted or made possible by outside assistance of various sorts.

In Preparing for Peace Lederach argues that in mediation, clarity and the adequacy of the framework of the process determines the outcome. Partly, if not exclusively, throughout the Darfur process two factors related to the processes of mediation have undermined the outcome of the negotiations.

These are incompetence of mediators and misguided mediation strategy. Incompetence of mediators hampered the Darfur peace process at an early stage. First, the Chadians lacked mediation experience and impartiality. While mediating the first ceasefire in September , Chadian President Deby skewed the negotiation process in favor of the GoS. Subsequent negotiations in N'Djamena collapsed because the rebels refused to negotiate further unless international observers were present.

Mediators' incompetence further undermined the April N'Djamena negotiations. First, the African Union AU envoy, Hamid Elgabid, lacked negotiation experience and was ill-equipped to mediate because he did not speak English or Arabic, the languages the protagonists could understand. French translation slowed down every session. Despite this problem, the GoS and the rebels signed a humanitarian ceasefire agreement with provisions to allow humanitarian access to the Darfur and deployment of the AU observers.

However, this limited agreement did not hold. It is troubling that GoS and the rebels received different variations of the agreement, which reveals the lack of impartiality among the mediators.