Daily Darfur: Baby Steps Towards Progress in Doha

What do you suppose a "joint declaration of good intentions" means, exactly?

From Al Jazeera:

"Representatives of Sudan's government and the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), the most influential rebel group in the country's western Darfur region, have signed a joint declaration of good intentions.

Qatar, which has been hosting peace talks between Jem and the Khartoum government for a week, announced the agreement on confidence-building measures on Monday."

From the BBC:

"BBC's Africa editor Martin Plaut says that by reaching this deal now, the government in Khartoum is signalling that it is moving on peace - under intense pressure from the international community."

Just getting the JEM in the same room with government representatives was progress --- this next step seems slow and cautious, but progress none the less. This agreement, which includes measures to protect and ensure access to aid for Darfur's refugees and internally displaced, is intended to pave the way for the discussion of an actual ceasefire in two weeks.

The agreement also includes commitments for an exchange of prisoners, though both JEM and government representatives are quoted in the Al Jazeera article as talking about the commitment "in principle" --- dubious overtones, considering their reputations. The exclusion of other rebel groups in Darfur will also challenge the effectiveness of the Doha talks.

In this news clip from the BBC, as well as in several articles, reporters note that the possible ICC indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir still looms over the peace talks, but I haven't seen anything yet that gives an indication of the impact it might have when it happens. It's easy to imagine that Khartoum might use it as an excuse to pull out of the talks, but (to state the glaringly obvious) we won't really know until it happens.

Speaking of the ICC...

Simon Tisdall writes in The Guardian (UK) that the ICC investigation has split the international community, pitting the US, UK, and France against China, Russia, and an alliance of African and Muslim countries.

A Western official also cites support from a variety of other countries.

He also cites "diplomatic sources" as confirming the ICC's plans to authorize the arrest warrant within the next two weeks:

"The court has kept its cards very close to its chest. But that's the expectation," a western diplomat said.

"You prepare for all eventualities and an indictment is the most difficult. But the search for peace and justice cannot be precluded by concerns over what might happen."

Other items of interest...

Amnesty International released a new report today criticizing the international community's failure to protect the citizens of Darfur, and calls on the UN to ensure the full deployment of the UNAMID peacekeeping force:
"Words alone are not enough. It is of no use to deplore violence in Darfur and deploy a force that is under-equipped," said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International's Africa Deputy Programme Director. "UNAMID must be enabled to protect itself as well as the people of Darfur. It is simply unacceptable that more than a year after the deployment of UNAMID, civilians still live in peril."

A New York Times book review of Emmanuel Jal's memoir of his life as a child soldier during Sudan's devastating North-South Civil War:

"There was peace in Sudan for the first three years of my life, but I cannot remember it."

In Colorado, 950 students gathered for an anti-genocide forum. In Maine, high school students participated in a human rights forum, after challenging their district's board of trustees to divest from Darfur.

And finally, to provide yet another example of Khartoum's delusional anti-Semitism, a senior advisor to President Bashir said that the government is closely monitoring the activities of DC's own U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. An editorial in a Sudanese newspaper commented that "this museum, which is lies upon lies, has devoted a wing to Darfur."

I'm thinking of making buttons that say, "Proud Member of the International Conspiracy against Genocide in Darfur." Think the USHMM gift shop would sell them?

[Photo from AFP: Sudanese rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leaders Khalil Ibrahim (R) and Taher al-Fakki (2-R) attend a Darfur peace meeting in Doha February 11.]