home > by publication type > backgrounder > Darfur’s Peace Process
Email
| Author: | Stephanie Hanson, News Editor |
|---|
June 18, 2007
In May 2006, the Sudanese government signed a peace agreement with one of the rebel groups in Sudan’s western Darfur region. Yet one year later, the agreement is seen as a failure. Security has deteriorated and rebel groups have proliferated. International efforts have focused on pressing Khartoum to accept the deployment of a hybrid UN/African Union peacekeeping force, as called for in an August 2006 Security Council resolution. But in the long run, experts say peace will only come to Darfur through a negotiated settlement between Khartoum and the rebel groups. Widespread disagreement remains over how to revive peace negotiations.
Several different actors are working to bring Darfur’s rebel groups and the Sudanese government to the table. Experts agree the best opportunity for restarting the peace process lies with a joint effort led by UN Special Envoy Jan Eliasson and AU Envoy Salim Ahmed Salim. Eliasson recently outlined a roadmap: align the different peace proposals, bring the rebel groups together, and begin negotiations. He hopes talks can start by the end of the summer.
The Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) was signed in May 2006 by the Sudanese government and Minni Minawi, who heads a breakaway faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA). The rest of the SLA, along with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), refused to sign the agreement. Its terms provided for:
By some estimates, there are twelve groups, most of them offshoots of the original two rebel movements, the SLA and JEM. The SLA has splintered into several factions led by different commanders. Each has similar demands; namely, more compensation for displaced Darfurians (one group proposed $2 billion). The ICG reports, however, that some SLA leaders are calling for Darfur to become an autonomous region.
The JEM takes a more radical stance. It demands changes in the national power-sharing structure to give all regions rights equal to those of the South and to reestablish a rotational presidential conference of local representatives. Like the SLA factions, it seeks compensation for Darfurians and wants political rights to be allocated based on population. In June 2006, after the signature of the DPA, the JEM spearheaded the formation of an umbrella rebel group called the National Redemption Front (NRF). This move to unite rebel nonsignatories has strengthened JEM, as have the group's links to Chad’s government.
Peace negotiations in Darfur could have repercussions for South Sudan, which enjoys tentative peace under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The CPA ended the region’s decades-long civil war in January 2005, established a power-sharing formula for the entire country until national elections in 2009, and called for a referendum on the South’s self-determination. Some experts argue that the world’s attention on Darfur has jeopardized South Sudan’s peace agreement.
The two peace processes are increasingly linked, others say, and should be acknowledged as such. The CPA’s power-sharing formula applies to the entire country, and thus the South’s former rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), is concerned that talks in Darfur might lead to a reopening of the CPA. Sudan’s U.S. ambassador, John Ukec Lueth Ukec, a former SPLM member, said in an interview with CFR.org: “If we go back and open the door again on the CPA, that is going to be a disaster.” He argues that the agreement provides the framework for solving the situation in Sudan, because it calls for national elections that will allow the people of Darfur to choose their leaders. De Waal agrees that free and fair elections are the key to resolving both of Sudan’s crises and are “the best chance for the marginalized provinces to achieve political equality.” Yet others believe the ruling National Congress Party will not relinquish its grip on power. “I wouldn’t bet on elections as one of the ingredients for success,” says Prendergast.
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
In The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the Bush administration’s struggle to balance security and openness in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report lays out a thoughtful agenda for U.S. policy toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, arguing that what happens there should matter to the United States--for humanitarian reasons as well as economic and strategic ones.
In this report, CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi analyzes the potential use of deterrence in preventing terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons and recommends a new approach to U.S. declaratory policy, as well as ways to improve U.S. capabilities to determine the sources of terrorist attacks.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
This report argues that the United States must lead with domestic action on climate change and proposes a U.S. negotiating strategy for a global UN climate agreement that includes commitments from all major economies, while also promoting a less formal Partnership for Climate Cooperation that would focus the world's largest emitters on implementing aggressive emissions reductions.
This Task Force report examines changes in Latin America and in U.S. influence there, while taking account of the region's enduring importance to the United States. The Task Force offers an agenda for U.S. policy toward Latin America and identifies four critical areas that should provide the basis of a new U.S. approach.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR.
Foreign Affairs has compiled a collection of articles that offer policy prescriptions to some of the world's most pressing problems.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1-212-434-9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
To request permission to reuse Council materials, please email publications@cfr.org or fax +1.212.434.9859.
Please include the complete information of the requested work—author, title, sections/pages to be copied or reprinted, and number of copies to be made—along with a brief description of where and how you would like to reuse the work.
You may also request permission for Council material through Copyright Clearance Center. For more information, please click on the link below.
Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.
Global Economy 