An international lobby group today called for the Darfur peace talks to be widened to include groups such as women and Arab tribal groups, in order to avoid more fragmentation among parties to the conflict and the danger of new insurgencies.
In a report entitled "Darfur's New Security Reality," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) says although fewer people are dying than during the height of fighting in the region in 2003 and 2004, the conflict "has changed radically… and not for the better."
In the past year, the ICG says, "the parties have splintered, and the confrontations have multiplied. Violence is again increasing, access for humanitarian agencies is decreasing, international peacekeeping is not yet effective and a political settlement remains far off."
Against this backdrop, the group calls for the peace talks launched at Sirte in Libya in October to be reformulated to broaden participation and deal with the root causes of the conflict.
The ICG distributes blame widely for the current situation, accusing:
- Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of wanting chaos in Darfur in order to weaken opposition and strengthen its chances of holding power in elections in 2009;
- The NCP of "integrating its Janjaweed irregulars into official security structures instead of disarming them;"
- Rebel signatories to the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement of attacking civilians, aid workers and peacekeepers;
- Rebels who did not sign the agreement of splintering into smaller groups along tribal lines, fragmenting their messages and rendering them less representative of their purported constituencies.
In addition, says the ICG, "inter-Arab dissension has added new volatility to the situation on the ground. Some tribes are trying to solidify land claims before the UN/AU hybrid peacekeeping operation in Darfur (UNAMID) arrives. This has led to fighting with other Arab tribes, which have realised the NCP is not a reliable guarantor of their long-term interests and have started to take protection into their own hands."
There is now, warns the report, "a high risk of an Arab insurgency, as well as potential for alliances with the predominantly non-Arab rebel groups."
