A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Progress in Sudan?

This seems like good news:

Sudan’s government said yesterday that its peace accord with Darfur’s main insurgent group allowed it to welcome U.N. peacekeepers to the troubled region, as mediators worked to persuade the rest of the fractured rebel movement to join the process.

The peace agreement, reached Friday in Abuja with one branch of the Sudan Liberation Army after two years of sporadic negotiations, aims to end ethnic bloodshed that has killed at least 180,000 people in three years and left about two million displaced.

The suggestion that it could pave the way for a deployment of U.N. peacekeepers overturns previous rejections by Khartoum, which so far has allowed only African Union peacekeepers.

[…]

The peace deal calls for a cease-fire, disarmament of government-linked militias, the integration of thousands of rebel fighters into Sudan’s armed forces, and a protection force for civilians in the immediate aftermath of the war.

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This is complicated by the fact that some of the rebel factions have rejected the peace accord because, in their view, it doesn’t provide for enough regional autonomy for Darfur and give the rebels sufficient representation in the government. Still, a hopeful sign.

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