Gloomy news for the prospects of both peace and peacekeepers in Darfur, reports the UN News Center:
Recent fierce fighting in Sudan's devastated Darfur region makes it clear that the international effort to protect the population is at dire risk unless the parties are pressured to negotiate a peace, a top United Nations peacekeeping official said today. "With the Government intent on military action and the rebels either fighting or fragmenting, it is difficult to see an opening for political negotiations," Edmond Mulet, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said as he briefed the Security Council on UNAMID, the hybrid African Union-UN force in Darfur.The opening of an avenue for peace negotiations is, of course, crucial for long-term stability in Darfur. And as long as a peace accord is pursued honestly by all sides -- and not through rushed expediency, as was the failed Darfur Peace Agreement of May 2006 -- it will also improve the odds of deploying a fully effective peacekeeping force in the short-term.