27th August 2004

Vol 45 N0 17

Free article preview  

Sudan SUDAN

Darfur's turning point

Without international peacekeepers the massacres will continue

In a few weeks, the direction of the Darfur crisis should be clearer: if the pressure for an international peacekeeping force and sustained pressure on the National Islamic Front government wins out, then there is a real chance of halting the rising death toll and stopping the political disintegration in the region (AC Vol 45 No 16). If those efforts by the African Union and the United Nations fail and Khartoum faces down the growing pressure, the conflict in Darfur is likely to worsen again and drag hopes of a sustainable North-South peace agreement with it. Above all, Darfur is a political conflict: the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are challenging Khartoum's control of Darfur - and by implication, of other parts of the country. Primarily, this is a direct clash between the armed opposition groups and the NIF government, not between competing bands of Darfurians. What muddies the waters is that the government has mobilised local militias from Darfur to carry out its scorched earth policy alongside its formal military forces and in so doing, has revived old communal divisions....

(This article contains approximately 2140 words)

end of free article preview

Current subscribers: log in now to read the complete article. Misplaced your password? Then click here for a password reminder.

Not a subscriber? Then you can read this article in full either by becoming a subscriber now, for 3, 6 or 12 months, or you can buy this individual article.

  • Subscribe to Africa Confidential:
  • Buy this article:
  • 3-month subscription
    Prices from £205.00 (+ VAT where applicable)
    6-month subscription
    Prices from £376.00 (+ VAT where applicable)
    12-month subscription
    Prices from £705.00 (+ VAT where applicable)
  • UK & European Union
    £17.00 (+ VAT where applicable)
    Rest of the world
    $27.00

  • If you have a print subscription already, click here for a password that gives you full access to the website.
  • If you are logged in, but still cannot access the full text of this article, email customer services or telephone us on +44(0)1638 743633.

Keywords:

 Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir, Uganda, Idi Amin Dada, Ja'afar Mohamed Nimeiri, Ibrahim Bushra, Chad, Idriss Déby, John Garang de Mabior, Eritrea, El Sadig Sadeeg el Mahdi, Playing out ethnic and political divisions, Nafi'e Ali Nafi', El Tayeb Ibrahim Mohamed Kheir, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Salah Abdallah Gosh, Awad Ahmed el Jaz, Mustafa Osman Ismail, Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, A thousand die each day, Mozambique, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, Janjaweed