c. 2004 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) The government of Sudan and rebel groups in the nation’s troubled Darfur region, under political pressure from a looming United Nations Security Council meeting in Kenya this week (Nov. 18-19), have signed something of a peace agreement.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warmly welcomed the Nov. 10 accords as a “significant achievement.”

“He (Annan) is hopeful that these measures, combined with the deployment and strengthening of the expanded African Union mission, will re-establish security and stability in the region, and facilitate the safe return of the displaced and refugees to their home areas,” the United Nations said in a statement.

But observers of Sudanese politics know, like the narrator of T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men,” that in Sudan, “Between the idea/And the reality … Falls the Shadow.”

Indeed, within hours of the signing of the pacts _ one promising aid organizations access to the internally displaced refugees in Darfur and the other banning “hostile” military flights over the region _ the shadow had already fallen: Amnesty International reported new attacks by Sudanese security forces on the Al Geir camp for internally displaced persons.

According to Amnesty, the Sudanese security forces fired tear gas, assaulted residents and bulldozed shelters in the camp over the protests of international aid agency personnel and U.N. and African Union representatives.

“The attacks show how urgent it is for the international community to take firm measures at (the) …. U.N. Security Council meeting to ensure the security of civilians in Darfur and the protection of their rights,” the human rights group said in a statement.

It is the way things go in the on-and-off, carrot-and-stick efforts to resolve the 20 months of fighting in Darfur _ an area about the size of France _ between the predominantly Arab and pro-government Janjaweed militias and the predominantly African rebels.

Unlike the conflict in southern Sudan, which pits Christian and animist Africans seeking greater autonomy against the Muslim government in Khartoum, both warring groups in Darfur are Muslim.

The Darfur crisis is often described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and it poses an immediate test for newly re-elected President Bush. The administration has often warned Khartoum of “consequences” if it does not rein in the Janjaweed and continues its military operations _ such as last week’s attack on the refugee camp _ in Darfur.

It is also one of the crises most intently watched by U.S. religious groups, who have banded together in broad coalitions that span theological, political and denominational divisions to pressure the U.S. government and the United Nations to pursue a more active role in seeking to resolve the conflict.

Over the weekend, both carrots and sticks were proffered.

Human Rights Watch, the eminent human rights organization, urged sanctions on the Sudanese government for failing to disarm the Janjaweed militias. It released a 43-page report, “If We Return We Will Be Killed.”

“It’s important to understand that ethnic cleansing in Darfur consists first of forcibly displacing people, then preventing them from returning home safely,” Peter Takirambudde, head of HRW’s Africa division, told reporters in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday (Nov. 15). “What we are seeing with these raids and tear-gassing of displaced camps is the government violently relocating people to areas other than their homes.”

In a related “stick” development, the Sudan Campaign, which includes black activists and religious groups such as Christian Solidarity International and the American Jewish Committee, announced they will press public pension funds to divest a purported $91 billion from companies doing business in Sudan.

“This issue has captured the moral center of the vast majority of the people in this country,” the Rev. Walter Fauntroy told the Associated Press in announcing the campaign.

But carrots are also in play as the Security Council meeting approaches.

The Washington Post reported Monday that the Bush administration is pressing the United Nations to reward Sudan with debt relief and reconstruction funds if it makes final a peace deal with the rebels in largely Christian southern Sudan.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Danforth told the Post it would be extremely difficult to get a resolution actually imposing sanctions adopted by the Security Council.

The U.S. approach _ at the moment _ is that if the war in the south can be ended and the shaky ceasefire made permanent, it could lead to peace in Darfur, as well.

“We are absolutely not letting up one iota on the pressure with respect to Darfur,” Danforth said. “But it is widely recognized that the future of Darfur is also connected to the overall peace process, which would provide the basis for a political settlement for the entire country,” he said.

The question for the victims of what the U.S. Congress has called a “genocide” is what side of the Sudanese shadow _ illusion or reality _ the U.S. carrot falls on.

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Meanwhile, a five-member U.N. panel arrived in Khartoum on Nov. 8 to begin the delicate task of determining whether the conflict in Darfur _ which has taken an estimated 70,000 lives and displaced some 1.6 million people from their homes _ qualifies as “genocide.”

Although the panel has three months to reach a conclusion, it will provide an important backdrop for the U.N. Security Council’s meeting in Nairobi on Thursday and Friday.

Whether the carrot is more effective than the stick in erasing the shadow between word and deed in Darfur _ and the rest of Sudan _ however, remains to be seen.

MO/PH END ANDERSON