Declaration of good intentions in Darfur: one step toward a peaceful solution

Hope for peace was rekindled for the people of the Sudan, and particularly the people of Darfur, when the Sudanese government and the main rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), signed a declaration of good intentions under the auspices of the Qatari government on February 17th.

Previously, the absence of the JEM -- the largest and most powerful rebel group -- from the political equation and from negotiations left the prospects for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Darfur remote if not altogether doomed from the start. The new declaration is cause for new hope, since the JEM is now aboard.

The following months will likely see hard-ball negotiations from both sides which will be further complicated given the mistrust and lack of confidence that have come to characterize their relations. It is time to bring the people who have suffered long enough to the center of the negotiation process and to create a win-win situation for both sides based on mutual interests.

Please take a look at this BBC report, which does a great job of throwing light on reactions coming from very different quarters, which differ in their 'takes,' their interpretations of what has unfolded in the Darfur region since 2003, and in their expectations of possible solutions.

A very difficult and a long, winding road to peace awaits the different 'stakeholders,' be it the people of the Sudan, of Darfur, or the different rebel forces of Darfur, which must speak with one voice. The Sudanese government itself is under pressure from different political groups, starting with those who insist that it not give in. (A case in point is the CPA agreement signed in early 2005 with Southern Sudan groups and which eventually brought peace). There are also those who feel Sudan needs long-lasting peace and cannot afford another protracted war for decades to come. For more information, take a look at the following.

In these testing and trying times, nothing is more important than wishing peace to the Sudan, whose continued existence as a state and as a political entity is being challenged, just as its eastern neighbor Ethiopia has been since the early 1990s. Wishes of peace are also in order for the people of Darfur, who ought to finally find some respite.