Divesting from Darfur

IX. Divestment and Recent Darfur Developments

In determining the ongoing value and appropriateness of targeted divestment, the Task Force continually reevaluates Khartoum's conduct in Darfur. The Task Force's most recent assessment, taking into account the faltering Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) and Sudan's continued resistance against deployment of a robust United Nations peacekeeping force to Darfur, concludes that divestment remains an important economic tool to pressure the Sudanese government. The following is a brief outline of recent events that have led to this conclusion.

On May 5, 2006, the Government of Sudan and the Minni Minawi-led faction of the Darfur's largest rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), signed the Darfur Peace Agreement in Abuja, Nigeria. Although the DPA initially garnered an outpouring of international praise, the agreement did little to improve the situation for the nearly 4 million Darfurians reliant on humanitarian aid. The Sudanese government reneged on many of its explicit and implicit commitments mandated by the Abuja treaty 62 and with increased infighting among rebel factions,63 64 65 the situation in Darfur has actually worsened since the DPA's signing.66 67 68 69 70 A humanitarian official on the ground noted that, "To the average Darfuri, the Darfur peace agreement has brought nothing but misery."

Numerous attempts to deploy multinational peacekeepers into the region since the May 2006 signing of the DPA have been repeatedly rebuffed by the Government of Sudan despite widespread international consensus (including UN Security Council Resolution 1706, passed on August 31, 2006)72 that deployment of such troops are critical and necessary. In an attempt to break this impasse, representatives from the African Union, the United Nations, the Security Council, and others met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The failure of the government to abide by the Darfur Peace Agreement, its refusal to allow UN troops to enter Darfur, and its continued reneging on each and every international agreement it has entered into since the Darfur conflict began is consistent with the current regime's past behavior: since the coup that brought it to power in 1989, the National Congress Party in Khartoum has never fully abided by any agreement with any other Sudanese party.

*All information provided by the Sudan Divestment Taskforce, www.sudandivestment.org

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