Qatar Peace Talks Begin

Talks in Qatar to put an end to the violence in Sudan are upon us. The Qatari Prime Minister stressed how important these talks are in order to achieve a lasting peace in Sudan. However, as the talks begin, reports come in of another 47 killed in the south of Sudan as a result of clashes over cattle. When people are fighting and dying over scarce resources in the country, one wonders what hope these talks can produce.
The problem of scarce resources is exacerbated by the cycle of violence that has prevented a stable system of agriculture to develop. It is hard enough to grow crops in the region due to deteriorating environmental conditions, aside from the threat of fatal clashes with rival groups.

There are a multitude of groups that have taken up arms in the country supporting regional rebel movements or simply defending their villages. Unfortunately, neither the Sudanese government nor important rebel factions have bothered to turn up for the opening of the talks in Doha. One suspects that attention was focused on a matter of far more importance, perhaps that football match that took place in Khartoum yesterday, set to determine whether Egypt or Algeria makes it to the world cup (It was Algeria, incidentally).

In a face saving move, these talks have been billed as a conference to lay the groundwork for eventual peace talks to end the fighting in Sudan. Despite the commendable efforts of Qatar, it seems the most we can expect from these talks is more talks. The need for settlement is especially pressing in view of April’s election and 2011’s referendum on independence for the South.

Any peace talks must include all groupings if any agreement is to be reached. UN mediators and Sudanese civil society organisations are present in Doha, indicating perhaps we must look to these groups, rather than the government, to be agents of political rapprochement.