resolving the darfur crisis

The situation in Darfur is a matter of great concern for two reasons. First, because of the reported killings of thousands of people, displacement of about a million, as also the rapes and other crimes.

Second, due to the apparent haste with which the western media and some leaders, notably Prime Minister Tony Blair, are demanding western military intervention. The Sudanese government (as any other) must do its utmost to protect the lives and property of its citizens, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims.

John Laughland, a Sanders Research Associates analyst, suggests that tensions have risen between nomads and herders, as the former are forced south in search of new pastures by the expansion of the Sahara desert. Each tribe has its own army - and the inevitable violence.

The western media puts the figure for dead at 30,000 or 50,000 whereas Khartoum puts the total on all sides at 1,200. Laughland asks why is such attention being devoted to Sudan when in neighbouring Congo, some two or three million people have died in its war.

Another fair-minded western assessment comes from Jonathan Steele, a writer, who has decried the western media's push for military intervention and rejected it by arguing that the conflict in Darfur differs from Kosovo, etc. in that there is a channel of negotiation and the gap between the parties is not as wide.

Asma Jehangir, as the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, has in a report called on the Sudanese government to quickly disarm the irregular forces and also protect Darfur residents.