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  • FRIDAY NOVEMBER 12 2004 3:00 PM

Sudan Signs Peace Accord and Agrees to No-Fly Zones

Submitted by Argene

Edited by Michael_J_Totten

Representatives from the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement have just signed a peace accord with the Sudanese government in Abuja, Nigeria. The agreement includes the creation of "no-fly zones", which will prohibit military flights over areas held by rebel forces. Both the African Union and Darfur natives hope that this accord will last longer than the accord signed in Chad this April , which only lasted for five days.

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llouys

llouys

Brazil
August 2003

NOV 12, 2004 06:03 PM

Update, one day later:

Sudan
backtracks as usual on the no-fly thing:

Agriculture Minister Majzoub al-Khalifa Ahmed said proposals for a "no-fly zone" over the region like those enforced over northern and southern Iraq under Saddam Hussein's regime had been dropped from the final agreement inked in the Nigerian capital Tuesday.

"What was mentioned was cessation by all parties of military operations on land and by air, and of any act that may jeopardize the ceasefire," Ahmed told reporters on his return from the talks in Abuja.

"Our brothers in the (rebel) movements demanded cessation of military flights and civil flights for military purposes and we told them that this was unacceptable to a sovereign state.

"Then they demanded a ban on military flights only and again we told them that this was also unacceptable."



I wanted to believe those accords too, but they're no different from the ones back in April -- a PR ploy, presumably because Khartoum is trying to have something to say in advance of the very unusual UN Security Council meeting set to take place in Nairobi in a few weeks.

On the same day as the Sudanese government were touting their agreement, they were forcibly removing refugees from camps and moving them back to territory held by the Janjaweed. This, by the way, has been taking place within 8 miles of the woefully undermanned African Union forces, which have been completely hobbled by Khartoum's policies.

I don't think, by the way, that the rebel SLA and JEM militias, are necessarily being any more protective of the refugees than the government is.

The refugees are still fucked, and the UN isn't doing anything about, has been been doing anything about it for months.

There.

Rant over.

Okay, it isn't:

Here's the UN asking daintily for more troops.

Mr Pronk said after "tough discussions" with the Sudanese authorities he believed such forced relocation would not happen again.



Watch out for more tough discussions.

whatever

[Edited on Nov 12, 2004 9:39PM]

llouys

llouys

Brazil
August 2003

NOV 13, 2004 04:02 PM

It pisses me off that no one comments on this topic.

waldo

waldo

I'm lost
June 2004

NOV 13, 2004 06:03 PM

I do agree with louys that someone, anyone almost, should be paying attention. So, let's see if we can riff on some arguments.

The idea that "this doesn't affect me" is specious bullshit.
- Firstly, it does affect us. Every traumatised child is a potential terrorist.
- Secondly, it does affect us. Every report we choose not to hear is a step towards the attitude that says "Oh they're only blacks/Jews/Gypsies/Catholics/Vietnam veterans/<fill in your victim of choice>".
- Thirdly, it does affect us. Dislocation of populations causes huge economic waste and friction. Don't underestimate the effect that has on your own economy.
- Fourthly, it does affect us. We are the people of the nations who might be concerned, and we do nothing. That tells the extremists that they can do whatever they feel like, practice their tactics and train their recruits in whatever acts they choose, on their neighbours who they may not like but who they at least have something in common with. Then they become available for actions closer to our homes, and they don't know us at all, except that we -definitely- have more money.

I have lived through the Thatcher years in Britain, and I learned that the idea that lack of compassion for one person doesn't change you for the worse is a stupid lie. Those people have children, and the children become vicious.

I have left the moral issues out of this as a deliberate choice.

[Edited on Nov 13, 2004 6:05PM]

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