Peace agreement without peace - Darfur refugees demand safety, not empty promises

"Eyewash” is what the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls the Darfur Peace Agreement, which is supposed to be signed in Doha (Quatar) on 14th July 2011. "The almost two million displaced people from Darfur will consider the agreement to be blatant mockery – for it will not help to ensure peace or more safety," said the STP's expert on questions regarding Africa, Ulrich Delius, on Wednesday. "There have not been as many human rights violations or as ferocious battles in Darfur for two years, as there are today. Darfur is still far from an actual state of peace." 

In displacement camp Kalma, one of the largest camps in western Sudan – with more than 60.000 inmates, refugee representatives are trying to persuade the rebel group "Liberation and Justice Movement" (LJM) not to sign the treaty. The refugees are calling for more security and especially for the disarmament of the militias, whose attacks they have been defencelessly exposed to since the beginning of the genocide in 2003.

The collective movement LJM is the only significant liberation movement in favor of the agreement. Neither the militarily relevant rebel groups "Justice and Equality Movement"(JEM) nor a fraction of the "Sudanese Liberation Army" (SLA) support the treaty. "Thus, we have the same situation as in May 2006," said Delius, "when a Darfur Peace Agreement was signed by the Sudanese government and a single liberation movement – even though there was no broad approval. This implicates, that partially met peace agreements are bound to fail. Unfortunately, the International Community has not learned from the miserable failure of 2006, so that all new efforts are only based on the principle of hope once again."

In view of the STP, the peace agreement that is now pending in Doha will not help the refugees. "But the European Union and the Sudanese government will be all to happy to create the impression of normalcy in Darfur," said Delius. This way, the bilateral relations could quickly return to a "business as usual”-agenda without having to deal with the disastrous consequences of the genocide for the displaced people in Western Sudan. "But it would be self-deceptive, if the International Community believed to be able to create peace in the area like this."

"The fact that Sudan's controversial President Omar Hassan al Bashir will attend the signing is particularly macabre," criticized Delius. "Not only because Bashir is sought by Interpol, but also because he took over personal responsibility for "all occurrences" in Darfur when he was interviewed by the British newspaper "The Guardian" in April 2011. This also includes genocide and crimes against humanity."