Real talks about Darfur's future are only just beginning, writes Gamal Nkrumah An international furore is heating up over the fate of Sudanese refugees scattered in neighbouring countries. There is much consternation about the fate of the refugees being repatriated to southern Sudan. And in Darfur, the faltering peace talks have yielded inconclusive results. The 7,000-strong AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) stationed in Darfur is far from being in total control of the situation in the war-torn westernmost region of Sudan. This, observers note, is primarily the result of poor funding. Western powers, and especially the United States, have expressed grave concern about the repercussions of a weak peacekeeping force in Darfur, especially in light of the escalation of fighting in recent weeks. Indeed, the fighting has spilled into neighbouring Chad which has accused the Sudanese government of instigating the violence in Chad. "The Chadian government holds the Sudanese government wholly responsible for this morning's attack, mounted from its territory," a Chadian government spokesman said. Several armed opposition groups have sprung up recently in eastern Chad and the Chadian authorities say that Khartoum is to blame. The Chadian authorities suspect that Khartoum is bent on destabilising the country. Chad has a similar ethnic composition to Darfur's. Chad also plays host to some 200,000 refugees from the fighting in Darfur. The 53-nation African Union (AU) is officially spearheading the peace process in Darfur. In an unprecedented development, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requested that Congress provide $50 million "critical" funding for the AU peacekeeping troops in Darfur, which was turned down by Congress. The AU says that there is a $150 million shortfall and international humanitarian and human rights groups have urged Western governments to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. "We are in critical need of funding to continue this mission at a robust level into 2006," Rice told Congress. "I have discussed this matter with others in the administration and can assure you that taking immediate action to meet this unanticipated expense is of the highest priority," she added. "The AMIS forces only deployed this year, in significant part because of US pressure to stop the genocide in Darfur," Rice noted. Rice said that AMIS had "substantially reduced large-scale organised violence, though a recent upswing in violent attacks is of great concern". The two main Darfur armed opposition groups -- the secularist Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Islamist Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in the Nigerian capital Abuja are accused of fomenting much trouble among the restless indigenous tribal groupings of Darfur. The SLA has recently seen a serious split in its ranks with the two rival factions fighting each other as well as the Sudanese government. One crucial aspect of the talks is human rights, decentralisation and democracy. The issue of gross violations of human rights in Darfur was also raised in Abuja. "Topping the agenda will be issues of political reform in Sudan, the pace of the democratisation process and a return to multi-party democracy. Human rights will also feature prominently," the Cairo-based Farouk Abu Eissa told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The Sudanese government is in a very difficult position and it must concede concessions to the Darfur groups. They don't see the gravity of the situation. The government is trying to buy time. Sudan is in grave danger of disintegration and fragmentation." But Abu Eissa also pointed out that the divisions among the armed opposition groups in Darfur are having a detrimental impact on the peace process. Other Sudanese academicians agree. "I'm not very optimistic about the outcome of the Abuja talks," Ibrahim El-Nur Ibrahim, former director of the office of African Studies at the American University in Cairo told the Weekly. The situation is especially precarious because of the deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Darfur. The international humanitarian groups also want to improve people's access to basic health care in the devastated region. And, see to the needs of the families separated by conflict and reunite people separated by war. The refugees have a dire need for re-establish links with their families. There are three million people in Darfur who are totally or partially dependent on food aid. The new government, an uneasy coalition of Islamist government and secular, southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is presenting a unified stance in Abuja. The SPLA has had a moderating influence on the Sudanese government position at the talks. Certain political parties of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Sudanese opposition umbrella grouping, are also represented at the Abuja talks. With so many disparate Sudanese political groups, prospects of a conclusive end to the Darfur peace talks in Abuja remain unfavourable.
