Slow but steady progress in Darfur

By Mark Doyle
BBC News, El Fasher, Darfur

The mission is also visiting Ethiopia and Chad

The convoy of white United Nations vehicles stretched almost as far as the eye could see as it snaked through the dusty streets of El Fasher.

Every 50m (165ft) along the route, Sudanese soldiers or police armed with automatic weapons were standing on guard.

At key points, truckloads of military held crossroads or roundabouts.

The UN Security Council was on tour.

The heavy security was for several reasons.

Sudan could not, of course, risk the embarrassment of anything untoward happening to the delegation of top diplomats.

But El Fasher is also a militarised town because of the threat of rebels who started a revolt in the region in 2003, saying they represented African tribes marginalised by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

A third reason for the thousands of soldiers being deployed was to prevent any demonstrations by the refugees from the conflict who live in huge encampments just outside town.

I didn't expect to see instant agreement - this is an ongoing process Emyr Jones Parry, head of mission

Some of the refugees are unhappy about a partial peace agreement that was signed last month between the government and one of the rebel groups, which they say is unrepresentative.

They resent the way the UN has pushed the deal which, they believe, is too favourable to the government.

For this reason, the long UN convoy was not heading for the camps but for talks with the African Union (AU) peacekeepers.

Long process

One of the key aims of the Security Council delegation is to push for a UN peacekeeping force which would take over from the AU and try to alleviate the suffering of the millions of people displaced by the conflict. But the Sudanese government has not agreed to the force.

Towards the end of the tour, UK Ambassador to the UN Emyr Jones Parry denied reports that the mission had not achieved its key aim.

"I didn't expect to see instant agreement. This is an ongoing process," Mr Jones Parry told the BBC.

The Islamist-led Sudanese government is wary of a UN force, diplomats say, because it sees the hand of the West behind the pressure exerted by the UN.

Mr Jones Parry said the Security Council had a two-point plan - to reinforce the AU force already in Darfur and go ahead with planning for the UN force.

"I think the discussions we've had," Mr Jones Parry said, "make it much more likely that, at the end of the process we're currently in, the government of Sudan will say 'Yes' to a UN force."

The mission visited Sudan, mainly for talks with the government, Ethiopia, for discussions at AU headquarters, and Chad, where the conflict has spilled over.

The UN wants to take over from African Union peacekeepers

The UN, if it deploys, would take over in Darfur from a financially hard-pressed AU mission which lacks resources.

The AU peacekeeping head, straight-talking former Algerian army officer Said Djinnit, told the BBC:

"We have been working under very precarious conditions of funding. At some points we faced arrears in soldiers' allowances."

This setback was on top of the logistical shortages - a lack of cars, for example, and telecommunications equipment.

Mr Djinnit said the immediate pay crisis had now been solved, but funds still needed to be found for July.

The long-running conflict in Darfur began as a tussle between farmers, who are mostly from ethnic African tribes and herders who are mainly from Arab groups.

It exploded in 2003 into an armed conflict when rebels, saying they represented marginalised Africans, attacked government targets in Darfur drawing a massive response.

The peace agreement, just one month old, has already come up against political difficulties

Led by the Sudanese army and air force (with helicopter gunships), and backed by Arab militias known as Janjaweed, the counterattack involved clearing hundreds of villages of their populations.

Human rights groups say over 200,000 people were killed in this operation and the UN refugee agency says some two million have lost their homes.

The United States called the Sudanese government operation "genocide"; senior UN officials called it a "scorched earth policy".

Divisions and disagreements

The conflict is between elite leaders from Arab-related tribes allied to the military-led government in Khartoum, and rebels allied to both African and Arab tribes.

More than 2m people have been forced to flee or are in camps

The original scarce resource which caused trouble was water and land for cattle or farming, but now everyone wants to get their hands on Sudan's crude oil as well.

The UN delegation will report back to their respective countries and then make recommendations based on their trip.

These will almost certainly include a UN peacekeeping force and support for the controversial partial peace agreement.

The agreement calls for power-sharing in Darfur and disarmament of the various factions. It was signed by the government of Sudan and one of the rebel groups - the part of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Minni Minnawi.

Mr Minnawi is from the Zaghawa tribe, which makes up only a very small percentage of Darfuris.

The leader of another faction, Abdul Waheed, has refused to sign, saying the deal is a sell-out to Khartoum.

The peace agreement is causing conflict within the camps

Mr Waheed is from the Fur ethnic group, one of the largest in Darfur, and his opposition is critical.

His supporters, who were chased from their homes by the government's military campaign, want their land back and financial compensation.

A third group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), has also refused to sign.

Clashes

Aid workers based in El Fasher said the agreement had, ironically, made tensions worse in the camps.

Supporters of the groups which had not signed were clashing with those that had.

The aid workers said the agreement appeared to have been rushed through without taking account of this possibility and that now the camps were at boiling point.

If there is major violence in the camps - which would be put down by the Sudanese army - the partial peace agreement would be even more fragile and could collapse completely.

But the Security Council diplomats said the peace deal was a reasonable one for all concerned and urged the dissenting parties to sign.