Hope builds for Darfur

The Washington Times ^ | August 8, 2007 | David R. Sands and Betsy Pisik

[JKrive]

U.S. special envoy to Sudan Andrew S. Natsios said yesterday that momentum is building for a political settlement to the Darfur crisis after rebel groups agreed on a common platform last week for talks with the Sudanese government.

U.N. officials in New York, meanwhile, offered details on preparations for a major expansion of the peacekeeping mission in Darfur, a vast, featureless region that has been the site of a civil war between Khartoum and a number of rebel groups.

Mr. Natsios, in a telephone conference with reporters, said that on a visit to Sudan last month, he sensed a war-weariness in the massive camps sheltering more than 2 million Darfur residents displaced by the fighting.

Even as the government and rebel groups jockey for advantage, "there is a sense I had not seen on previous visits that the [refugee] camps are emerging as a political movement in their own right," he said. "People are increasingly worried that there needs to be a political settlement, that they will lose their land if there isn't one."

[JKrive]

Finally, some hope for Darfur. Of course, the process would probably go 10 times faster if the U.N. weren't involved. For more on Darfur, visit Critical Mass. Specifically, read this post

[elc]

The U.N. Security Council a week ago authorized — and Sudan has reluctantly accepted — a 26,000-strong hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur jointly operated by the United Nations and the African Union.

When it comes down to it, it will take well more than a year for the member states to pony up the funds, soldiers, and equipment necessary for such a mission (if they ever fully do).

[VOA]

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