All the indications are that the peace agreement signed yesterday by the Sudanese and Chadian presidents gives little ground for optimism that it will translate into an end to hostilities between these two countries. Almost immediately, rebels on both sides dismissed the deal, one group describing it as “a piece of paper”. But what this contemptuous reaction entirely overlooks is that one day, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, it really will be a piece of paper, and only a piece of paper, that brings this venomous violence to a halt.
President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby should be congratulated for their accord reached at the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in the Senegalese capital Dakar. There have been peace agreements before which have quickly broken down and the omens for this one do not look outstanding. The government in Khartoum seems intent on crushing the Darfur rebels, using its own regular forces along with the Janjaweed militias, while the Deby administration is still struggling to maintain itself in power after a strong rebel assault on the capital N’Djamena.
If both countries quit sponsoring each other’s rebel movements, it would, at the very least, contain the violence. Once that had been achieved, each government could settle down to the difficult job of addressing the issues that fostered rebellion and unrest on their respective territories. What the savagery of the past few years has demonstrated is that the gun offers no solution to any side. Indeed, it only deepens the troubles. Darfur, the genesis of the conflict, was already pitifully poor before age-old ethnic tensions led to violence. At present, as with every such range war, power rests in the barrel of a gun — but power to steal, intimidate and kill the opposition. This leads nowhere.
If Darfur could be given the economic opportunity that rebels originally claimed was denied it by Khartoum, the situation could be transformed. The international community — including Islamic states that seem singly focused on rallying behind their legitimate opposition to brutal Israeli policy than effectively decrying nearby Muslim-on-Muslim atrocities — is partly to blame. No one has yet looked at what can be done to give the people of Darfur a reason to choose peace and a convincing hope of some prosperity. Chad has the beginnings of its oil wealth, which, if wisely invested in the economy, can offer its people a better future. But Darfur remains a vast and difficult region, bereft of economic opportunity.
Productive international investment, rather than just band-aid support for refugees, could make a difference. Unfortunately, such a long-overdue initiative will now have to be implemented under the guns of the men of violence, who, in stealing food destined for refugees from their own communities, have demonstrated a complete loss of moral direction. Nevertheless, the Dakar accord is a necessary beginning. Much more has yet to be done.
