Reason to Hope?

This week I'm making a departure from my chosen topic to write on some news out of Darfur. The Save Darfur Coalition announced today that a delegation of theirs headed by New Mexico governor Bill Richardson had brokered a new cease-fire agreement with the government of Sudan; the governor and President al-Bashir released a joint press statement of the proceedings. Following are the bulleted points as given by Save Darfur:

-A 60-day ceasefire with an international peace summit to be held before March 15, 2007.
-Sudan's cooperation to work with the African Union and United Nations on the deployment of a hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur.
-Ensuring "zero tolerance" policies for gender-based violence in Darfur.
-Free access for humanitarian aid workers and journalists.

As for the first point I consider this a good place to start. While a mere two months may not seem like a very long time we should be reminded that with a genocide that has averaged between 100 and 500 deaths a day a span of 60 days without a cease-fire could claim the lives of anywhere between an additional 6,000 to 30,000 Darfurians. Remember, also, that in only 100 days the genocide in Rwanda claimed twice as many lives as have been lost in Darfur since 2003. So, in short, any amount of time during which there is supposed to be at least a semblance of peace is good news for the people of Darfur.

Turning to the second point is where I start to worry a bit. Calling for Khartoum’s cooperation is all well and good but, ultimately, the government of Sudan has the final say as to whether or not it chooses to cooperate. In the past Khartoum has been very vocal about not granting its consent to UN forces coming into Darfur.

As for the “zero-tolerance” point I believe this to be one of the greatest potential victories. In a society where it verges on the inappropriate to even talk about gender-based violence such as rape I think that this is a very worthwhile goal to implement immediately in Darfur. Rape is all too often used in campaigns of genocide; history has taught us this lesson.

Finally, assuming the government honors the last point on “free access” then it would mean a greater ability to ensure the immediate survival of those 2.5 million displaced persons who depend on outside help for medical attention and food supply. Further, greater freedom for journalists would help ensure that the story of Darfur reaches the greatest number of people possible.

Of course, any work that moves in the direction of bringing bring peace to the people of Darfur is a good thing, however, my optimism carries the baggage of caution and lingering concern about the commitment of the Sudanese government to such a ceasefire. It was only last spring that a different ceasefire was agreed to and not long after broken. However, I believe that it certainly is progress, and therefore, certainly a reason to hope.