African Union Panel reports on Sudan

William Minter (AfricaFocus Bulletin)-- ‘Repeatedly during our process of consultation, the Darfurians insisted that the Panel would fail in its mission if it did not identify and address what they called “the root cause of the crisis in Darfur”. ... a gross imbalance between a strong centre and a marginalised periphery, which resulted in political power and wealth being concentrated in the centre, with the consequent negative consequences on the periphery’ - African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur

The report presented by the African Union panel last week is still not public, but a statement by the panel’s chair, former South African president Thabo Mbeki highlighted both the urgent need for a political resolution in Darfur and the inextricable connection of that goal with parallel efforts for completion of the peace process for Sudan as a whole.

The Panel was established by the African Union in March 2009, and included, in addition to president Mbeki, two other former presidents: General Abdulsalami Abubakar, former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and Pierre Buyoya, former president of Burundi. The other members were Justice Florence Mumba, Judge of the Supreme Court of Zambia, Rakiya A. Omaar, Director, African Rights, Mohammed Kabir, Lawyer, Nigeria, and Ahmed Maher El Sayed, former Foreign Minister of Egypt.

(1) Sudan: Between Peace and War

The pace of diplomacy on Sudan is increasing, with talks set to resume on Darfur and active engagement by the African Union, the United Nations, and the United States in efforts to move Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement forward as it approaches the last year of a projected six-year interim period. But, says veteran Sudan analyst John Ashworth, in fact the agreement is not Comprehensive, nor Peace, nor an Agreement. Its failure could ignite a new war even more deadly than the two previous conflicts in Southern Sudan.

For more go to: http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/sud0910b.phpand

(2) Sudan: Policy Debates and Dilemmas

In the debate on international policies towards Sudan, the critique of the Save Darfur movement and the International Criminal Court for counterproductive ‘humanitarian fundamentalism’ has been convincingly argued by such analysts as Alex de Waal and Mahmood Mamdani. Both the Obama administration and the ‘international community’ seem to be gearing up to give diplomacy a serious chance, after recent years of alternating bluster and failure to put real pressure on the Sudanese government. But the unanswered question is whether even forceful and skillful diplomacy can overcome Khartoum’s long-practiced strategies for delay and deception.

For more go to: http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/sud0910c.php

For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Sudan, see:
http://www.africafocus.org/country/sudan.php

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