JUST LIKE THAT, THE MEDIA's FAVORITE GENOCIDE IS KAPUT!
"Khartoum says 10,000 have died in Darfur, while the United Nations
puts the death count at up to 300,000."
---------------
"Sudan's Darfur no longer at war: peacekeeping chief"
By Andrew Heavens
Reuters
Thursday, August 27, 2009 2:29 PM
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's Darfur region is no longer in a state of
war and only has one rebel group capable of mounting limited military
campaigns, the head of the area's peacekeeping force said as he ended
his tour of duty.
The statement was quickly dismissed by Darfur insurgents on Thursday
who said they were armed and preparing to launch new attacks on Sudan
government troops in the near future.
The commander of the joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeeping
force, Martin Luther Agwai, told reporters the conflict had now
descended into banditry and "very low intensity" engagements that
could still blight the remote western region for years without a peace
deal.
"As of today, I would not say there is a war going on in Darfur," he
said in a briefing in Khartoum late on Wednesday.
"Militarily there is not much. What you have is security issues more
now. Banditry ... people trying to resolve issues over water and land
at a local level. But real war as such, I think we are over that."
The six-year Darfur conflict has pitted pro-government militias and
troops against mostly non-Arab rebels, who took up arms in 2003,
demanding better representation and accusing Khartoum of neglecting
the development of the region.
Khartoum says 10,000 have died in Darfur, while the United Nations
puts the death count at up to 300,000.
Agwai became the latest senior figure to appear to play down the level
of violence in Darfur, where the conflict has mobilized activists who
accuse Khartoum of genocide.
Mostly Western campaigners and some diplomats were angered by comments
in April by UNAMID's political leader Rodolphe Adada, who said Darfur
had subsided into a "low-intensity conflict"; and by U.S. Sudan envoy
Scott Gration in June who said he had seen the "remnants of genocide"
in the region, stopping short, they said, of describing a current
genocide.
FACTIONS
Agwai said the fierce fighting of the early years of the conflict had
subsided as rebel groups split into rival groups.
"Apart from JEM, I do not see any other group that can launch an
attack on the ground," he said referring to the Justice and Equality
Movement, a rebel force that launched an unprecedented attack on
Khartoum last year.
Agwai said JEM could still fight, but did not have the manpower to
hold territory. The Nigerian general added there was still a chance
full blown conflict would resume.
JEM has clashed a number of times with the Sudanese army in the past
months, and has said it withdrew voluntarily on two occasions to
protect locals from government air attacks.
JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim on Thursday told Reuters there had been a
period of calm in Darfur. "But this is the quiet period before the
storm. In the coming days he (Agwai) will find out he is wrong. He is
just talking like a politician and trying to show he was a success in
Darfur."
Ibrahim said there were fewer battles now than in the early days of
the conflict. "The quality of war has changed. The fighting is more
intense. You don't say there is no war because there is no fighting
for a week."
Jerry Fowler, head of Save Darfur, a U.S.-based advocacy group, said,
"Darfur remains a very dangerous place" -- above all for the millions
of displaced people in camps.
He said that as recently as February there was a major battle between
JEM and Sudanese government forces around the town of Muhajiriya.
Agwai, who is due to leave Sudan on Thursday after two years at the
head of the peacekeeping force, said his main regret was the lack of
progress in getting a peace deal.
"I really didn't have any peace so I couldn't command a force that
could really keep the peace," he said, adding that Darfur's localized
insecurity could continue "for years" without a settlement.
Negotiations between JEM and Khartoum in Doha are stalled and the
founder of Darfur's rebel Sudan Liberation Movement is refusing to
talk.
(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in New York)
Code:
Content visible to registered users only.
Military commander says war in Darfur is over. 
Linear Mode
