Sudanese government agrees "in principle" to an international peace-keeping force for Darfur

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) issued scathing criticism of the new peace plan for Darfur on Friday. It will not be able to guarantee real protection for the civilian population in the west of Sudan, fears the human rights organisation. "What they have thought out is nothing but a rotten compromise. Today will go down as a black day for the people in Darfur, for the international community is threatening to leave them in the lurch", said the GfbV Africa correspondent, Ulrich Delius. Evidently this international community is now prepared to abandon its attempts to send a UN peace-keeping force with a robust mandate to Darfur. Khartoum has agreed "in principle" to the sending of UN soldiers under the command of the African Union (AU) to the west of the country. The notion of sending a UN peace-keeping force or an international peace-keeping force under the command of the United Nations is still rejected.

The new peace plan is just as unsuitable for ending the genocide rapidly as the peace treaty for Darfur signed on 5th May 2006 under international pressure, said Delius. The treaty as formulated neglected many justified demands of the western region, which had for decades been left unattended. Since the signing of the agreement violence has escalated.

"If now western governments celebrate the agreement which is possibly in sight, then this is a chimera", said Delius. For the AU peace-keeping force has long since lost any credibility in Darfur. Often unmotivated and poorly paid, the African soldiers have been prevented systematically by the Sudanese authorities from giving the civilian population any real protection. "The stationing of even more African and a few UN soldiers under AU/ command will not effectively stop the genocide", warned Delius. It will only mean more time lost for saving human lives.