US Secretary of State Colin Powell appears to have made the following deal with the Sudanese government:
The US will back off calling the situation in Darfur a genocide and
will stop accusing the government of Sudan of driving the genocide if
in turn the Sudanese government stops the raiding janjaweed militias,
allows safe passage of aid workers and aid, and negotiates in good
faith with the Darfur rebels.
Powell seems to assume (1) the government wants to stop the
genocide, (2) the government is capable of stopping the death squads
and aid raiders, and (3) Sudanese government action will be a faster
and more effective path to a working peace than the introduction of UN
or US troops.
These assumptions may prove to be true. I hope for the sake of the people of Darfur they are.
Now here is the irony. The Sudanese government has argued all along
that it is not guilty of driving the atrocities and that it has no
direct control over the janjaweeds. But if the Sudanese government’s
claims are true, this same government will not be able to reign in the
raiders and comply with its deal with Powell.
Powell most certainly believes that the Sudanese government
does control the militias and is driving the genocide. And this
assumption, in turn, is central to his current strategy—even while
the same assumption is disavowed in his public statements.
We will see what happens.