THE SUDANESE government has agreed to a ceasefire with Darfur’s most powerful rebel group, opening the possibility that an end to the seven-year war is in sight.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the government of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said the framework agreement, signed in the Chadian capital N’Djamena on Saturday, will be formally signed on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.
The deal with JEM is believed to include a temporary ceasefire and a framework agreement for future talks. It will also allow for the reprieve of more than 100 rebel fighters, who were sentenced to death for their part in a deadly attack on Omdurman in May 2008, which left over 200 dead.
“Today, we signed an agreement between the government and JEM in N’Djamena, and in N’Djamena we heal the war in Darfur,” Mr Al-Bashir said in a speech broadcast on state television. JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein said the deal was a significant step for peace in Darfur. “It is a considerable achievement for both parties,” he told reporters.
The deal comes 10 days after President Bashir met his Chadian counterpart, President Idriss Deby. In the past, both presidents have accused each other of attempting to undermine their respective governments, with Mr Deby widely believed to be a supporter of JEM, who are from his own Zaghawa ethnic group.
However, recent developments have forced both to bury their differences and quell unrest in the region. Mr Al-Bashir, who is facing Sudan’s first multiparty elections in April in 24 years, is under pressure to sign an agreement after the International Criminal Court in the Hague charged him with committing genocide last year.
Mr Deby is also facing elections, and may see a peace agreement as an opportunity to force UN peacekeepers out of the east of the country. Mr Deby recently asked the Security Council not to renew the mandate of the United Nations mission in the Central African Republic and Chad, as he claimed it was unable to protect civilians along the border because only 2,700 of the mission’s 5,200 troops have yet been deployed. Chad is home to 220,000 refugees from neighbouring Darfur.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 after the JEM and other rebel groups accused the government of favouritism towards the Arab majority. Since then, more than 300,000 people have been killed through direct combat, disease and malnutrition, the UN says, as the conflict evolved and fractures opened up between tribal groups. The Sudanese government puts the figure at 10,000.