At least 300 people were killed in clashes between Sudan's army and former rebels in the south earlier this week, aid workers say. Most of those killed are soldiers but the fighting took place in the river port town of Malakal so correspondents say many civilians may also have died.
The BBC writes about an incident in Southern Sudan earlier this week and claims it to be one of the more serious breaches of the Comprehensive Peace Agreeement (CPA) from January 2005 between the Kharthoum-based government and the Southern Sudanese People's Liberation Army. IRIN News covers the incident here, too.
It is serious stuff in many ways if 300 people get killed, wether soldiers or civilians. I can't help regretting this self-empowering tendency among the peace-loving NGOs (my own in particular) to overestimate development towards peace in our rethorics. It is a fine balance to maintain a positive peace-believing approach in favour of a more realistic and pessimistic - like i.e. in order to fundraise and inform people in the Western world about the African reality. Within this process we often turn the blind eye to the pit falls. With ceasefires and peace agreements comes development and opportunities, and it's tempting to go for that.
But in Sudan's case where the CPA certainly has proven unsettled business about the entitlement to or division of the resourcefull south, peace is not real. Not yet. Most of the time it's too bloody complicated, but what to do, when people don't want more bad news from Africa?
And I'm afraid there are more bad news in this category: The Lord’s Resistance Army has suspended peace talks with the Ugandan government just before the deadline for the rebels to assemble in designated places, claiming the cessation of hostilities agreement has been violated - from IRIN News. However, one of the parts suspending the Juba Peace Talks might no longer be considered news...
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Stationed out of Loki in Kenya for starters and then traveling all around the south. Specifically we'll be working out of Malakal as well.
Posted by: Aaron | Wednesday, 06 December 2006 at 03:48 AM
Hi Aron
Thanx for your steady reading on my blog, and all your comments. I appriciate that. Where exactly are you going - Sudan??
Pernille
Posted by: P | Sunday, 03 December 2006 at 12:50 PM
And just as I'm about to head there in a month! I'm all for adventure, but I like peace. Nice... boring... peace.
Posted by: aaron | Friday, 01 December 2006 at 12:53 AM