Why Sudan is now allowing UN troops in Darfur

UN lauds Sudan's concession

Mr. Ban had met recently with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Arab leaders to deliver a breakthrough on the international troops. The August Security Council resolution stipulates that the forces could only be deployed with Sudanese approval.

Some observers see the Sudanese decision as an initial victory for Ban, who only took over the secretary-general's post in January. But others, including US officials, were less ebullient about the announcement.

"In all three areas – humanitarian, security, and political – the government of Sudan is not doing what it could" to return peace to Darfur, said Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, after a visit to Sudan on Monday. He called the Sudanese decision "important," but cautioned that the international community would not be letting its guard down.

In New York, the words were even less rosy: "We learned a long time ago not to take these letters at face value," said Alejandro Wolff, the acting US ambassador to the UN.

For some observers, Sudan's decision reflects China's growing pressure on Khartoum to respond to growing pressures from the international community.

"It shows that one thing is more important to the Chinese than their access to Sudan's oil, and that's the success of their Olympic Games," said actress and Darfur activist Mia Farrow in comments to the Associated Press.

George Ayittey, an Africa expert at American University in Washington, says there is a role for China in solving the Darfur conflict – but he says it lies more in having China pressing Sudan to deal with the Darfur crisis in the African context.

"Sudan is an African problem, and we need an African solution to it," says Mr. Ayittey. "Once we talk about [UN] peacekeepers the problem is out of Africa," he says. "But this has to be addressed in Africa by the full range of people involved."

Mr. Ayittey says the model should be South Africa and its dismantlement of apartheid, an effort that did not "just involve two sides, but all elements of society." If the Darfur conflict is only addressed in terms of the government and rebels, he says, it will not be solved.

De Waal says the janjaweed, the pro-government Arab militia terrorizing the Darfur population, will never be disarmed by peacekeepers – that will take an internal Sudanese political solution.

De Waal says the danger of Sudan's latest agreement is that what he calls the "more-has-to-be-done crowd" will be enthralled by it, instead of looking for more viable solutions.

"It's not 'we need to do more,' " he says, "but at this point we need to rethink and say 'maybe we need to do things differently.' "

Page: 1 | 2