Originally published on the CGS blog on September 6, 2007.
UN SG Ban Ki-Moon and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir just announced that Sudan would be meeting with the Darfur rebels in Libya at the end of the month for a new round of talks. Unfortunately the largest Darfur based rebel group stated that they would not attend unless the security of their people is assured by a stop to the fighting.
Sudan Liberation Movement leader Abdul Wahid el Nur stated “We are not going to Libya to negotiate unless we can guarantee the security of our people. This is a failing process and the SLM is not a movement that fails.”
While the imminent arrival of the 26,000 strong peacekeeping force may help quell the fighting, there are signs that the fracturing of groups in Darfur may make peace – short and long term – harder to attain.
I am glad the UN SG is working the Darfur issue – he should continue to do so and should not hesitate to bring in other diplomatic actors to assist his efforts.
