The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr.Abdul Ruff

On the sidelines of the OIC summit in Dakar, Senegal, the presidents of Chad and Sudan Chad's Idriss Deby and Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, have signed an accord on 13 March aimed at halting five years of hostilities between the two neigboring countries. They agreed to implement past failed peace pacts at a Dakar summit. The deal - known as the Dakar agreement - commits the two nations to implementing past accords that have failed. The accord was struck under Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade's mediation. The signing ceremony was witnessed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade brokered the agreement at his palace in the capital.

Sudan-Chad reconciliation is considered to be a prerequisite for resolving the ongoing Darfur crisis in Sudan where a five-year conflict has left more than 200,000 dead and uprooted 2.5 million from their homes since 2003, when rebels began fighting government forces and allied militia. Sudan has repeatedly accused Chad of supporting Darfur rebels. Tensions were high in the region in recent weeks as about 10,000 sought refuge in eastern Chad following a series of deadly air and land attacks by Sudanese Government forces and allied militiamen on towns and villages in West Darfur, and Chadian rebels fought the forces of their government, the UN reported.

The deal is meant to suppress attacks by armed groups operating along their shared border, a move toward stability in Chad and the battered Darfur region of Sudan. The deal said the leaders had agreed to "inhibit all activities of armed groups and prevent the use of our respective territories for the destabilization of one or the other of our states", reported the Associated Press news agency. It calls for the establishment of a monitoring group of foreign ministers from a handful of African countries that would meet monthly to ensure there have been no violations.

The problems between Chad and Sudan include the growing unrest in the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur, inter-tribal clashes and the continuing fragmentation of the region's rebel movements had combined to hurt efforts to start substantive peace talks between the government and the movements; and the splintering of the movements is hindering the formation of a single negotiating team for any serious talks. Both countries have agreed on the need for a multi-track approach to diplomatic efforts to end the crisis, including shuttle diplomacy and indirect negotiations. A rebel attempt to overthrow President Deby's government was thwarted last month.

Earlier, Deby's Chadian government accused Sudanese authorities of arming rebels who launched a failed assault last month on the Chadian capital, N'djamena. The deal commits the two nations to implementing past accords that have so far failed to help end violence in the area. It calls for foreign ministers of each country to meet monthly to be sure there are no violations. "We hope that this accord will open a new page in the relations between the two countries," al-Bashir told reporters after the signing in Senegal's capital, Dakar. If successful, it would also represent be a step toward ending violence in Sudan's Darfur region. Deby said this deal is different from the others because it puts concrete Deby said of the deal. "The guarantee is the belief in peace. The peace needs to be a peace in our hearts." Our borders were closed since the last agreement signed" in October 2007.

The United Nations Security Council has approved a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force to replace the 7,000 African Union (AU) observer mission struggling to protect civilians in Sudan's western province of Darfur. But the exact make-up and deployment date for this beefed up force is still to be determined. In the meantime, more than 2m people are living in camps after fleeing more than four years of fighting in the region and they are vulnerable without peacekeepers.

The signing of the agreement by the presidents of Chad and Sudan regarding reconciliation and the normalizing of bilateral relations has been welcomed by the international community and the recent OIC summit applauded the move. The United Nations and African Union envoys, upon wrapping up two days of consultations in Geneva with key members of the international community, said improving the relationship between Sudan and Chad is crucial to achieving a durable solution to the conflict wracking Darfur. Jan Eliasson of the UN and Salim Ahmed Salim of the AU said they had received strong support from the participants at the Geneva consultations - which included the Security Council's permanent members, its African members, the European Union and neighbors of Sudan - for renewed efforts to move the political process forward.

Sudan's government and the pro-government Arab militias are accused of war crimes against the region's black African population, although the UN has stopped short of calling it genocide. Peace talks involving the government and most of the myriad rebel groups have recently resumed, but until the new UN-AU force deploys in Darfur the prospects for an end to violence look remote. The neighbors have often accused each other of supporting rebel movements trying to overthrow their governments. Hours before they met, Chad accused Sudan of sending heavily armed columns of Chadian rebels across its border. Sudan earlier dismissed Chad's claims that it had sent Chadian rebels over the border as "complete nonsense". There has been no independent confirmation of any crossing. Chadian rebels say they already operate inside the country and EU peacekeepers there said they had detected no incursion.

The Sudan is the largest country in Africa and the Republic of Chad is a landlocked country in central Africa. Sudan has had a troubled relationship with many of its neighbors and much of the international community due to what is viewed as its aggressively Islamic stance. Since 2003, the foreign relations of Sudan have centered on the support for ending the Second Sudanese Civil War and condemnation of government support for militias in the Darfur conflict. There are many casualty estimates, most concurring on a range within the hundreds of thousands. The UN estimates that the conflict has left as many as 200,000 dead from violence and disease.

Darfur has faced many years of tension over land and grazing rights between the mostly nomadic Arabs, and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zagawa communities. The war or conflict now in Darfur in western Sudan in the impoverished region early in 2003 after a rebel group began attacking government targets, saying the region was being neglected by Khartoum. Rebel groups began attacking government targets, saying their communities were being discriminated against in favor of Arabs. The rebels say the government is oppressing black Africans in favor of Arabs. Darfur, which means land of the Fur, has faced many years of tension over land and grazing rights between the mostly nomadic Arabs, and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zagawa communities.

The combination of decades of drought, desertification, and overpopulation are among the causes of the Darfur conflict, because the Baggara nomads searching for water have to take their livestock further south, to land mainly occupied by non-Arab farming communities. There are estimated to be more than 13 rebel factions in Darfur. The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), are prominent but both groups have split, some along ethnic lines. The leader of one SLA faction, Minni Minawi, who signed a peace deal in 2006 (rejected by others) after long-running talks in Nigeria, was given a large budget, but his fighters have already been accused by Amnesty International of abuses against people in areas opposed to the peace deal. The other rebel factions did not sign the deal.

Millions have fled their destroyed villages, with some 2m in camps near Darfur's main towns. But there is not enough food, water or medicine. Some 200,000 have also sought safety in neighboring Chad, but many of these are camped along a 600km stretch of the border and remain vulnerable to attacks from Sudan. The refugees are also threatened by the diplomatic fallout between Chad and Sudan as the neighbors accuse one another of supporting each other's rebel groups. Chad accused the Sudan government-backed Arab Janjaweed militia of attacking villagers in Chad. Sudan's government denies being in control of the Janjaweed and President Omar al-Bashir has called them "thieves and gangsters". After strong international pressure and the threat of sanctions, the government promised to disarm the Janjaweed. Trials have been announced in Khartoum of some members of the security forces suspected of abuses - but this is viewed as part of a campaign against UN-backed attempts to get some 50 key suspects tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The US and some human rights groups say that genocide is taking place - though a UN investigation team sent to Sudan said that while war crimes had been committed, there had been no intent to commit genocide. Sudan resisted strong Western diplomatic pressure for the UN to take control of the peacekeeping mission and their attitude to the deployment and its mandate remains ambiguous at best. Accurate figures are crucial in determining whether the deaths in Darfur are genocide or not- as the Sudanese government says - the situation is being exaggerated. About 7,000 African Union troops are deployed in Darfur on a very limited mandate. African Union says it does not have the money to fund the operation for much longer. Some say even the new 26,000 force promised will not be enough to cover such a large, remote area.

Peaceful existence between Sudan and Chad is an essential prerequisite for resolving the Darfur issue amicably and the recent agreement is considered to be a milestone not only their relations, but also finding a lasting solution to Darfur region. Sudanese government must take steps to improve the conditions of Darfur region and should not depend too much on its military might to suppress the Darfur people. The three stake-holders, Sudan, Chad and Darfur people have to consult one other for future course of actions towards final settlement of Darfur crisis in their favor. Sudan and Darfur leaders must sit down and talk about power-sharing, wealth-sharing and security and, of course, the right of return - for people to come back to their own homes. And there is no alternative to negotiated settlement and they have to start talking about the recovery and development. Essentially the focus should be on a better future for the people of Darfur.