May 15th, 2008 - Nikki Serapio  Permalink  View & Add Comments

A need for vigilance

A statement from the ENOUGH Project, released yesterday:

The unprecedented attack on a suburb of Khartoum by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) demonstrates once again the urgent need for a credible and inclusive peace process to resolve the crisis in Darfur. It is too early to predict what effect the attack will have on the political and military dynamics of the conflict going forward, but Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party is making clear that its response will focus on civilians. The government and its proxies are launching a new round of assaults against civilian targets in Darfur and we are receiving credible reports of arrests, beatings, disappearances, and executions of Darfuri civilians (particularly Zaghawa) in Khartoum and Omdurman. Today’s alarming reports of heavy fighting in Abyei–a flashpoint that threatens to ignite full scale civil war–further underscore the urgent need for sustained, high-level diplomacy. To prevent the further deterioration of the volatile situation in Sudan, ENOUGH and the Save Darfur Coalition urge the U.S. government and the international community to take immediate steps to launch and sustain an all-encompassing peace process that addresses the local and national issues that are fueling conflict.

Read ENOUGH’s Re-Released report “Creating a Peace to Keep in Darfur”

To learn more about the violence in the Abyei region of Sudan, read ENOUGH’s report, “Sounding the Alarm on Abyei”