De Darfur-Darfur Dialoog en Consultatie: laatste strohalm voor het Vredesakkoord?

Danielle van Grieken, Georg Frerks and Riek van der Woud throw light on the chances rather than the risks of the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue & Consultation process as a last resort to promote the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement. The current context in Darfur requires a distinctive approach by international donors, aimed at finding a political solution to Darfur's continuous crisis. International donors and analysts have demonstrated their support for two distinct strategies; either employing a basket of coercive measures to persuade or force the Sudanese Government into changing its destructive policy or applying a cooperative strategy by restarting the political process and reviving the May 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). Although both strategies may be beneficial if well applied, this paper urges the international community not to apply both strategies simultaneously. Ideally, international donors should establish an effective international division of labour, with each government or organisation making a pragmatic choice for one of the strategies based on its expertise, power and possibilities, to achieve maximum efficiency, clarity on donor roles and constructive results as a whole. Restarting the political process and saving the DPA should be high on the international agenda. International support for the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC) will be influential in this respect as this public and all-inclusive process of sustained dialogue forms an opportunity to broaden the base of support for the DPA among Darfur's diverse populations and may eventually even induce non-signatories within the current DPA+ talks, to sign the Agreement after all. If one recognizes the DDDC's potential for Darfur's peace process as a whole, it becomes critical that international donors soon provide practical and political support to start the DDDC in Darfur where security conditions permit. Although support for the DDDC forms a less considered donor strategy in Darfur, it may be the last resort to find a solution to Darfur's crisis within the framework of the DPA.