Khartoum Is Ready to Resume Talks in Addis Ababa, but it Takes Two to Tango (2)
Time and again, leaders of the armed movements have failed the litmus test. They could have translated into action, the ‘’crocodile tears’’ they shed here and there in the media, wailing and lamenting the suffering and the anguish of the civilians in the two areas, had they humbled themselves a little, showing some flexibility and objectivity towards the consecutive unilateral, regional and international initiatives, seeking in essence, the alleviation of the humanitarian tribulation of the civilian populations in the two areas.
Obviously, evasiveness and equivocation has been the armed groups’ favorite modus operandi. That can explain why for instance, they turned a deaf ear, for long five months, to all domestic and international calls, to follow Khartoum’s footsteps and sign AU-Road-map. They eventually had to succumb and yield to international pressure, dragging their feet to Addis Ababa, perhaps only, when they were left with lesser and lesser political maneuverability,
Alas, the world’s ensued euphoria of another looming peace chance , has been again short-lived, as the leaders of the armed groups no sooner betrayed their commitment , showing their ugly face, and their utmost contempt towards the different compromising solutions tabled by the AUHIP mediation, vis-à-vis the arrangements and mechanisms for the monitored delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected civilians. They left the AUHIP with no option, than decidedly and unequivocally held them responsible, for the collapse of the said peace round.
History tend to repeat itself, few years ago, in 2012, SPLA-N leaders typically thwarted yet another favorable opportunity for the participation of international and regional organization to distribute the humanitarian assistance, within the framework of the joint tripartite proposal (UN, AU and Arab League). Likewise, Khartoum’s successive unilateral humanitarian initiatives to that effect, including the unilateral cessation of hostilities, to allow for the immunization of children in the two areas, were met with the very same skepticism and contempt.
In a yet another unilateral humanitarian gesture, and speaking to the large crowed of Darfuri people on the 7th of this month, attending the celebration marking the completion of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) in El-Fasher, and in the presence of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Chadian President, Idriss Déby and Central African Republic (CAR)’s President Faustin Archange Touadéra,.President AlBashir, announced the release of all the child soldiers who were apprehended during the Gouz Dango battle, saying they would be handed over to their families to send them back to schools.
Signing in March this year, the UN-Action Plan to protect children from violations in armed conflict, the government of the Sudan has manifested again and again, its commitment towards international conventions. However, it was anything but surprising, that the armed rebels, in contrast, are still unwilling to sign the Plan.
In contrast, the constant calls of the world community and the UN-specialized agencies, to the armed- groups, urging them to stop recruiting soldiers from among children and other civilians in refugee camps in and across the border in South Sudan and elsewhere, still fall on deaf ears and the recruitment has not yet subsided. On the contrary, the systematic practiced forced recruitment by the rebel factions has recently seen a marked increase, as more villages has been raided to capture children into its ranks.
Obviously, that can be partly attributed to the successive stunning military defeats, incurred on the these peace-reneging elements by the Sudanese army, In one hand, besides, the sweeping defections and repatriation, of the almost all the major rebel leaders, field commanders and combatants, with their military equipment, to their home towns and villages in Darfur, voluntarily relinquishing insurgency and reintegrated in the peace process, under the umbrella of the DDPD.
According to report made by Waging Peace, which is British human rights organization, thousands of child refugees from Darfur, some as young as nine, are being abducted and sold to warring militias as child soldiers. The organization has filmed testimony in refugee camps in eastern Chad, describing how children, mostly boys between nine and 15, have been forcibly taken from their families by camp leaders, then being trafficked to rebel militias. The report concluded that, in part because of their role in such kidnappings, the rebel factions started losing their support amongst the Darfuri refugees in the camps.
To that effect, one of these infamous militia leaders; Abdel Wahid Nour, harbored and patronized by both France and Israel, and whose intransigence towards all the consecutive peace initiatives, has earned him the nickname "Mr. No”, is seen in a widely circulating leaked video-message, addressing obviously, the local leaders of the Darfuri people in the NGO’s displacement camps in Darfur, where he in furious and desperate tone, blackmails and threatens them, with dire consequences, of death and destruction, if they discontinue or dodge sending him, their respective sons and daughters, as he put it, for military recruitment ,and likewise, their money contributions (royalty) for the so-called struggle.
it is against the backdrop of the dubious French role of in Africa, and in conjunction with the French marked hostility towards the Sudan vis-a-vis the ICC, Paris harboring of negative armed movements that threaten peace, such as Abdel-Wahid, and which persistently commit acts of killing, intimidation and terror in the Sudan, is considered by the Sudan, as an act of incitement for the continuation of war in the Sudan.
Only Last May, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry Sunday summoned the French ambassador to Khartoum Bruno Aubert, to protest against his country’s not merely hosting the Sudanese armed opposition meeting in Paris, but what is even worse, was the participation of French officials in the said meetings. That intrinsically raises again and again the big questions; debunk in the first place, the covert role of France and its related incredible media outlets and NGOs, hostile to Sudan, in igniting the conflict in Darfur.
The perplexing question here; why should the French government and the Troika alike; do continue to fall short of exerting their enormous political leverage and pressure on Mr. Abdel-Wahid for instance, who has been arrogantly shunning all the successive peace initiatives?
That indisputably vindicates a widely held perception; for the perpetuation of conflict in the Sudan, it has been an old western tactic, that whilst making hue and cry for peace in Sudan, calling on warring parties to engaged in peace talks, they making sure, at the same time, that at least one rebel group is on the move militarily on the ground.
That is why the hostile French media outlets, has recently rushed to fabricate new charges against the government of the Sudan, urging the French government to act quickly, when their ally Mr.Nour, started losing all his scant remaining pockets in Jabal Marra, where he used the inhabitants therein as human shields, levying and extorting them with heavy taxes for years, in the name of a feign struggle.
Khartoum is Ready to Resume Talks in Addis Ababa ….But It Takes Two to Tango (1)
By Mubarak M.Musa Diplomat; Sudan Embassy Kiev
sudanvisiondaily.com