The Two Arms of Peace

United States, Canadian, and African Union mediators have strong-armed the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels into an agreement. But they're not stopping there: the purpose of the agreement was to get Khartoum to permit a UN peacekeeping force. This two-armed approach - rifle and olive branch - will give peace a better chance than either on its own would have done.

Why is Sudan so keen on a peace deal? Aren't they the aggressor? Not really. The rebels began the fighting back in 2003. Sudan is at fault because their response has been overwhelming, disproportionate and inhumane. The reason a peace deal is so welcome to them is because it predicates any UN-led process with the sovereignty of Sudan over her own territory. This stipulation will prove more permanent than the concessions Khartoum made: disarming the Janjaweed and integrating the rebels into the Sudanese military as protectors of Darfur. C.f. Germany's loss of sovereignty in Alsace-Lorraine after WWI with their loss of industrial and military authority in the Rhineland. The first has remained in effect to this day; the second was abrogated without reaction before WWII.

As a result of the deal, however, it appears that Sudan is willing to allow UN peacekeepers, who are much better funded and equipped than their AU counterparts. These are the Darfurians' best hope for enforcement of the cease-fire and a return to normalcy.

The U.S. and AU both deserve kudos here. Robert Zoellick (Condi's #2) has pushed hard on the rebels, no doubt threatening to abandon them if they persisted in militance, and Salim Ahmed Salim (a doubly great name; he must be a good friend of Boutros Boutros-Ghali), the AU arbiter, has maintained the dignity, authority, and neutrality of the young Union. The European negotiator... oh wait, the Europeans didn't contribute sufficiently to make the papers. Even Canada contributed. The EU's contribution seems to be limited to: post facto cheerleading, and providing France as a ubiquitous geographical size comparison to Darfur.

Financial Times has a nice background summary going into the negotiations.