The Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) peace talks in Kenya between the government of Sudan and the insurgent Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) face deadlock. The steadily worsening, ethnically polarised conflict in Darfur forms the biggest threat to the IGAD peace process and the stability of the country as a whole. This paper by the International Crisis Group offers recommendations to Sudanese and international players aimed at addressing the conflict that would risk the lives of some 7 million people.
The civil war in Darfur involves multiple intertwined conflicts. The first is between government-aligned forces and rebels. In the second, the government-backed Arab militia (Janjaweed) attack the civilians. The third conflict involves a struggle amongst Darfur communities themselves. The war also indirectly threatens the regimes in both Sudan and Chad and has the potential to inspire insurgencies in other parts of the country.
The complexity of the Darfur conflict, the government’s resistance to internationalisation and the international community’s fear of angering the government before it concludes a peace agreement with the SPLA have made for passivity that has allowed the government to pursue its military agenda. Other important findings include:
- Darfur is a strong reminder that Sudan’s crisis has more to do with the structural imbalances of governance and economic development that characterise the relations of the centre with peripheral regions than with the north/south divide.
- The Khartoum government seeks to avoid addressing the political issues that fuel the conflict in Darfur. However, arrangements focused solely on humanitarian access would not endure.
- At the root of much of the conflict is competition over fertile land and water, exacerbated by desertification in northern Sudan and the drought that has affected Darfur on and off since the 1970s.
The Darfur crisis requires the international community’s full engagement. The United States, the UK, and other interested countries have a responsibility to ensure that the Darfur conflict is dealt with, in order to give the IGAD peace process and stability in Sudan a real chance for success. Specific policy-relevant recommendations include:
- A strong, separate and internationally monitored political process between the government and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) insurgencies is needed to stop the bloodshed.
- This process needs to be tied to an internationally monitored ceasefire and followed by a long term process of inter-tribal reconciliation that will be critical to a favourable outcome.
- The international community should pursue more vigorous and public diplomacy, applying pressure on whichever party is obstructing progress toward concluding the IGAD negotiation.
- The government should be required to compel the Janjaweed to withdraw from areas it seized by evicting the original inhabitants. Once these conditions have been met, donors and the government need to support development programs.
- Developmental programs should counteract the deteriorating ecological situation, for example by increasing water sources for agriculture and human and livestock consumption.
- The international community should condemn violations of international humanitarian law in Darfur more vocally.
