Julie Flint: Planning for the all-Darfur conference now

Commentary in The Daily Star Where is the African Union in Darfur? by Julie Flint July 12, 2006. Excerpt:

More force - whether in the shape of a NATO force or another foreign army - will only add fuel to the fire in Darfur. A UN force to replace the present AU mission is rejected, with increasing conviction, by the Sudanese government. Without a change of heart in Khartoum, UN peacekeepers would have to fight their way into Darfur. The lesson of Abuja is inescapable now: There is no quick fix, and no lasting peace that is not both consensual and comprehensive.

With the conclusion of the Abuja talks, there is no political process, no table around which Darfurians can sit to thrash out their outstanding differences and seek to resolve them. Priority must be given to creating a new forum - perhaps through the Darfur Joint Commission, in which all parties to the conflict, including the dissident rebel factions, are represented. The UN and the AU's Abuja partners - the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Italy and the Netherlands - must take the lead in planning for the all-Darfur conference now.

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