{"id":367237,"date":"2010-02-26T17:10:42","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T22:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.szone.us\/f95\/cautious-optimism-sudan-40080\/"},"modified":"2010-02-26T17:10:42","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T22:10:42","slug":"cautious-optimism-in-sudan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/367237","title":{"rendered":"Cautious Optimism in Sudan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>On 02.26.10 01:00 PM posted by Morgan Roach<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Omar-al-Bashir100226.jpg\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Omar-al-Bashir100226.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While candidate Obama spoke out fiercely against genocide in Darfur, President Obama extended a hand to the architects of the killing in Khartoum.* The Administration\u0092s policy review on Sudan, completed late last year, promised a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/Africa\/upload\/wm_2660.pdf\" >new strategy of engagement with Sudan<\/a>, spearheaded by Sudanese envoy, General Scott Gration.<\/p>\n<p>For the moment, that policy, Gration claims, is on the verge of yielding positive results. \u0093<a href=\"http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/Africa\/upload\/wm_2660.pdf\" >We have had agreements in the past; most have failed. I think this is different<\/a>.\u0094 Gration\u0092s optimism is powered by the signing by President Omar al-Bashir of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/02\/24\/world\/africa\/24briefs-sudanbrf.html\" >a ceasefire deal<\/a> in Doha with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the largest rebel group in Darfur.<\/p>\n<p>The Doha pact lays out a timetable for negotiations, promises to protect and defend Darfur\u0092s residents from violence and intimidation, and commits Khartoum to establishing fair representation in democratic institutions.* Chad, Sudan\u0092s western neighbor, has also joined in the peace process, lowering tensions between rival neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>While the ceasefire may be a positive sign, Sudan has a long way to go until it reaches stability.* Other Darfur rebel groups have denounced the North\u0092s deal with JEM.* *Additional points of controversy include a proposed referendum in 2011 to determine Darfur\u0092s potential independence, resolution of war crime charges laid against al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court, and the upcoming April presidential elections to be held in most of Sudan, including the non-Arab south.<\/p>\n<p>The Obama Administration is likely to claim a rare foreign policy victory in Darfur. But the U.S. should not get ahead of itself. With an estimated <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2010\/02\/22\/AR2010022202996.html\" >300,000 people dead and 2.7 million displaced,<\/a> any movement towards a permanent resolution is welcome. But the negotiations are only one step towards reducing violence in Darfur and must not be used as an excuse to prematurely lift sanctions.* Sudan\u0092s process of recovery has a long way to go and it must be held accountable.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/2010\/02\/26\/cautious-optimism-in-sudan\/\" >http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/2010\/02\/26\/&#8230;mism-in-sudan\/<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 02.26.10 01:00 PM posted by Morgan Roach While candidate Obama spoke out fiercely against genocide in Darfur, President Obama extended a hand to the architects of the killing in Khartoum.* The Administration\u0092s policy review on Sudan, completed late last year, promised a new strategy of engagement with Sudan, spearheaded by Sudanese envoy, General Scott [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-367237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}