Hope, if not peace, in Darfur
Peace pact is promising, but intervention is the hardest part.

May 10, 2006
The Los Angeles Times
Original Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-darfur10may10,0,233815,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials

LAST WEEK'S PEACE AGREEMENT between the government of Sudan and the largest rebel group in the Darfur region was a triumph of diplomacy for the Bush administration, which is generally not known for its talents in the prickly realm of international negotiations. Yet the hard part — persuading the rest of the world to intervene — is yet to come.

Sudan's government, based in Khartoum, is made up of people who cavalierly order mass murder, spend their oil proceeds buying weapons for roving thugs, set up roadblocks to international aid organizations — and then tell boldfaced lies about all of the above. Trusting this government to stick to the letter of last week's agreement requires a pretty long leap of faith, especially given all the cease-fires it has ignored over the last several years. At least one rebel group also has refused to sign on to the agreement.

The real benefit of the peace deal between Sudan and the Sudan Liberation Army is that it might help speed the arrival of desperately needed United Nations troops. They would stand between Arab militias and the innocent villagers they have been slaughtering and raping with impunity for three years.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed to the U.N. Security Council to approve a U.S. resolution to quickly send peacekeepers to Darfur, something the U.N. has been reluctant to do without permission from Khartoum.

There are now indications Khartoum is willing to give in. On Saturday, the government said that under the terms of the peace accord, it would be willing to allow U.N. troops to reinforce the 7,000-member African Union peacekeeping force already in the country. (No such formal permission has been granted by Sudan's president, Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who has yet to say anything at all about the accord despite U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's pleas.) 

The Security Council's response will determine whether the pact brokered last week by Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick brings peace to one of the world's most unstable countries — or leads to yet another failed cease-fire. President Bush, who recently ordered emergency shipments of food aid for refugees in Darfur and challenged other countries to do the same, is providing principled leadership on Sudan that is putting other world leaders to shame. Those leaders now need to stand with Bush to force Khartoum to choose peace.