Daily Darfur: We'll Make Peace for You, and (Rare) Input from Darfuri Civil Society

In yet another exercise of transparent grandstanding and outright egotism, Sudanese President and possibly/hopefully soon-to-be-indicted genocidal war criminal Omar al-Bashir announced a new national peace initiative for Darfur. The problem? It doesn't include the rebel groups with which peace must be established.

But he's serious, he says.

"Despite the difficulties and obstacles ... we declare our determination to reach a final solution this time."

His phoniness makes me laugh, and his use of the term "final solution" makes me cringe.

Rebel groups in Darfur discount the three day conference as an attempt to "play nice" under the close watch of the international community, in hopes of winning a suspension of the International Criminal Court indictment proceedings. (If he's serious about peace, calling off bomb and Janjaweed attacks in Darfur would be a good place to start. Perhaps this is the reason for the repeated failure of numerous peace initiatives in the past. Just a hunch.)

The rebel groups aren't the only protesters--displaced civilians expressed skepticism about Bashir's intentions and frustration over failures to include, or even consult, Darfuri civil society in peace initiatives:

"It's only after Ocampo that Bashir started to do his best, but there is nothing serious," said Alawia Ahmad Mohammad, a 26-year-old displaced woman living in Abu Shouk camp, outside the government-held town of Al-Fasher.

"This peace, peace, peace we hear about is not true. It's a lie," Mohammad added. "The right way is for the people of Darfur to make peace."

Salah Salih Baku, a community leader also in the Abu Shouk camp, added,

"The government will bring peace by the gun. At the time of any meeting, the soldiers will be outside shooting. This could go on for another 10 to 20 years"

For Darfuri scholar Abdel-Jabbar Abdullah Fadul, peace will only come with regime change in Khartoum:

"With the presence of this regime, Sudan will never be healthy. Traditional peace negotiations are nonsense and they will not take place," he said. "I doubt Bashir can sign an agreement," he said.

Instead he sees the ICC chasing after top regime officials, and national elections scheduled for next year, as helping to weaken the NCP and quicken its eventual departure from power.

"The ICC, as one of the pressures, will not solve the problem but will go toward weakening the regime, which will help withdraw this regime," he said.

Consultation with Darfur civil society is strikingly absent not only from discussions about peace, but from reporting on the issue as well. International attention on civilians highlights their suffering, but more often than not falls short of soliciting input on prospects for peace and justice. In all of the controversy over the possible ICC indictment of Bashir and the pressure on the UN Security Council to suspend the proceedings, I don't often come across reports on the thoughts and desires of those actually targeted by the genocide.

This seems like a serious oversight, doesn't it?