United Nations — John Danforth, Washington's ambassador to the United Nations, had a grand vision for this week's rare Security Council trip to Africa.
The council's 15 members would fly to Sudan's capital, Khartoum, and pound the table for action on two issues: the conclusion of a peace treaty to end the country's 21-year civil war between the northern-based government and southern rebels, and an end to recent violence in the western region of Darfur that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 2 million.
But because of stiff political resistance from Sudan's government, and a few council members, the panel will get only as far as Nairobi, Kenya, where the north-south peace talks are taking place. Though it is far from Khartoum, Danforth, who has spent years trying to end Africa's longest-running war, hopes it will be close enough to get something done.
"This has dragged on for an unbearably long period of time. It's time to reach a conclusion," he told reporters last week, without any attempt to mask his frustration.
Road to peace
The special session today and Friday in Nairobi will mark only the fourth time in more than 50 years that the council has met outside its New York headquarters.
The meeting represents a high-profile test of whether the council can help Sudan's government and the southern rebels walk the last difficult steps toward peace, without losing sight of the problems in Darfur. It is a tricky balance that has, so far, eluded the council.
"The trip has been characterized as a high-stakes roll of the dice," a senior U.S. official at the center of the peace talks said. "I don't think it's that. It is a weapon in the U.N. arsenal that is very rarely used, but it shows how serious the Darfur-Sudan situation is that we would use it."
The council will come bearing some sticks, but mostly carrots, Danforth said, to persuade Sudan's government and the southern rebels to work together. The peace has been three years in the making, and because he helped launch the process as the Bush administration's special envoy to Sudan in 2001, Danforth hoped the council would be able to celebrate a freshly minted peace deal in Nairobi.
But now he is merely hoping that the two sides sign an agreement today that will commit them to finalizing a peace pact by year's end. Senior officials from the United States and Sudan say privately, though, that talks probably will not finish until early next year.
Under outlines of the pact that have already been negotiated, Khartoum would share power with its erstwhile enemies, and allow the south to vote on self-determination in 6 1/2 years.
Crucial incentives
If the two sides conclude the long-sought deal, the Security Council will likely reward Sudan with a major package of international debt relief and reconstruction funds. The package, to be designed by the World Bank and other international agencies, could be worth more than $100 million.
Tens of thousands of villagers have been killed and about 2 million driven from their land in Darfur's conflict. Now huddled in temporary camps, the displaced people still face attacks from militias and uncertainty about their future.
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