By Claire Soares in N'Djamena, Chad and Daniel Howden Published: 03 May 2006 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article361582.ece The humanitarian crisis in Darfur, which is now spilling over into neighbouring Chad, has pushed Sudan to the top of the Global Index of Failed States. The report - compiled by the American magazine Foreign Policy and the think- tank Fund for Peace - was published as diplomats from Britain and the US flew to Africa to push for a peace settlement in Darfur. African nations made up six of the top 10 failed states in the study and the regional impact of the Darfur crisis was reflected in Chad's presence at number six. The US trade representative, Robert B Zoellick, and Britain's International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn, made unexpected arrivals at the talks in Nigeria in an attempt to pressure rebels and the Sudanese government into striking a deal before a midnight deadline last night. The failed states index ranked nations by giving them a score based on criteria such as the massive movement of refugees and internally displaced peoples, widespread violation of human rights and intervention of other states. The three-year internal conflict in Darfur has led to the deaths of at least 180,000 people and the displacement of more than two million. The scale of the crisis put Sudan ahead of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the previous poll topper, Somalia, as well as Iraq. The Darfur peace talks, taking place in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, have dragged on for two years, with mediators expressing frustration at the warring parties' unwillingness to compromise or to respect a ceasefire. The African Union had set a deadline on Sunday, but extended the talks by 48 hours when the rebels rejected an AU draft agreement. AU officials said yesterday there may be another two-day extension. Ted Chaiban, who heads Sudan operations for Unicef, said that attacks were escalating in several areas in Darfur. Mr Chaiban said the factions were probably expecting a treaty and were jockeying to hold the most territory before a ceasefire was declared. "It is important that the agreement be signed so that this kind of jockeying ... would cease," Mr Chaiban said in an interview. The fighting in Darfur has destabilised neighbouring Chad, where President Idriss Déby is almost certain to extend his 16-year rule as the country heads to the polls today. Chad's main opposition parties are boycotting the poll, which leaves Mr Déby, who changed the constitution so he could stand for a third term, facing four candidates that are either officials in his government or lead parties allied to him. It is only three weeks since a rebel attack on the capital and analysts have warned that the President's playing down of the insurgency could see Chad slide into a civil war. Chadian rebels, who have vowed to oust Mr Déby, forced their way inside the gates of the capital N'djamena before being repelled by government forces. "It spells civil war," said Suliman Baldo, Africa programme director at the International Crisis Group think-tank. "Chad should evidently be higher on the international list because ... the crises in Darfur and Chad have converged to a point where it would be impossible to settle one without addressing the other." Albissaty Saleh Allazam, a spokesman for the FUC rebel group, said: "I can tell you that there will certainly be another action, even more striking." The UN refugee agency said four Chadians were killed and five wounded on Monday near a refugee camp by a group of 150 armed men. The attackers were described as belonging to the Janjaweed Arab militia that the Sudanese government is accused of using against Darfur civilians in response to the rebellion. The fact that the Sudanese government is believed to be backing the Chadian insurgents only complicates the situation. "There's a risk that if Déby's regime collapses, then the refugee camps will not be protected," Olivier Bercault of Human Rights Watch said. More than 200,000 refugees are sheltering in camps inside Chad, having already fled Darfur after attacks by the Janjaweed. The top 10 failed states Sudan Chaos in western region of Darfur has undermined the peace dividend from the end of the north/south civil war Democratic Republic of Congo Millions have been displaced by a bloody internal conflict that has lasted for decades Ivory Coast Protracted civil war has shattered country and government has only now met after two-year hiatus Iraq In political deadlock and on the verge of civil war after US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein Zimbabwe Facing starvation and in economic freefall under the regime of Robert Mugabe Chad Destabilised by Darfur fighting Somalia Still in near anarchy under warlords. Government has only recently returned from Kenya Haiti Massive human rights abuse and popular unrest followed a US-backed regime change Pakistan Tensions between secular government and popular Islamist pressure Afghanistan Taliban insurgency on rise again and government hemmed in at Kabul List compiled by the US magazine Foreign Policy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hopes fade for Darfur peace deal By Paul Vallely in Abuja Published: 02 May 2006 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article361312.ece Peace talks aimed at ending the violence in Darfur have been extended until midnight tonight. But observers in the Nigerian capital are pessimistic that a settlement will be reached. There was hope at the weekend that the Sudanese government and the two main rebel groups could reach a deal to bring peace to the region, where 200,000 people have been killed and two million more driven into refugee camps. A deal was almost done at the weekend, in talks between the Sudanese government, which has been accused of fostering genocide in the region, and the two main rebel groups. The agreement would have disarmed the notorious government-backed jangaweed militia and rebel groups, declared the three Darfur regions a transitional region and promised a referendum by 2010 on further autonomy, and offered an annual $200m subsidy to the region. But at the last minute the rebels split, with two factions refusing to sign. The extension to the talks, in which mediators are shuttling back and forth between the two sides, came after pressure from Washington, where at the weekend a mass rally of protestors including Jewish Holocaust survivors and the Hollywood actor George Clooney took place. It also followed a personal intervention at the talks on Saturday by the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo who leaned on the rebels to sign. But few observers expect success from the deadline extension. Yesterday (mon) morning the Sudanese vice president Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, who arrived here three weeks ago and held face-to-face meetings with rebel leaders, left Abjua convinced the rebels were not open to a settlement. Over the weeks Khartoum, widely portrayed as the villain in Darfur, has played its diplomatic cards cleverly. It agreed to sign on Saturday. The main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army, seemed ready too, but a breakaway faction, together with the smaller hardline Justice and Equality Movement refused, leaving the rebels, despite the huge international sympathy for their position, looking like spoilers. There are two main rebel sticking points. They object to the demand that their troops lay down their arms before they are integrated into the Sudanese army. And they are insisting that a vice president's post in the Khartoum government be given to a Darfurian rather than the No 4 post the draft agreement offered. But the deal offered them major concessions. It agreed their key demand that Darfur's borders to revert to where they were at independence in 1956, before land was transferred to Northern Sudan by successive governments. And it placed the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority under the control of the SLA and JEM rebels. Failure of the talks will reflect badly on the African Union which was created three years ago with the idea of "African solutions for African problems". Its credibility has already received a serious blow from the inability of its 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur to stop the violence in the region. It must now decide whether to hand over its first major peacekeeping operation to the United Nations. Whether the international community has the stomach for a bigger and better-equipped United Nations force with more aggressive terms-of-engagement is another matter. Despite the celebrity protest in Washington at the weekend, and countless pious expressions of outrage and concern, the UN's World Food Programme has received just one-third of the $746 million it requested from rich countries to feed three million people in Sudan. Unicef has received only one sixth of the money it asked for. As a result, rations of grain, beans, oil, sugar and salt for the starving people of Darfur are soon to be halved. |