Damanga Astonished at President Gaddafi's remarks

November 19, 2007

Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy is astonished at the comments President Gaddafi made at the Darfur Peace Talks. Damanga was not expecting these kinds of words from one of the great African leaders. We accredit to President Gaddafi the efforts of the Darfur Peace talks. We also acknowledge that the peace talks will be affected by the absence of the other militia groups. We thank President Gaddafi, and other African nations, the United Nations, and the United States, who participated in the peace talks, even though it was not as successful as we anticipated. However such comments from President Gaddafi undermine the efforts, especially as he opened the talks stating that the conflict in Darfur is merely a tribal conflict. We want to stress once more that the conflict in Darfur is beyond a conflict over resources; it is Genocide. We cannot reach peace and stability in Darfur when the leaders are not acknowledging that there is genocide going on in Darfur

Ahmed Dirag, leader of the Federal Coalition Movement, made similar comments that President Gaddafi made, adding that it is not a war between Arabs and Black Africans. This is quite unfortunate. If a leader from Darfur could say such things, what do we expect from the President of Libya? They seem to be supporting those perpetrating the violence against Darfurians, over 400,000 people killed, villages destroyed, and Arabs from different countries coming to settle in Darfur where other innocent people have been attacked. These oppressors continue to attack refugee camps, relocating the refugees to the desert where there is no sign of life, despite the efforts of several NGOs and International Agencies who are trying to save the lives of the refugees and the government does not seem to care.
The failure of the peace talks was foreseeable from the beginning, as the President of Sudan, and the rebels were not in unity. The rebels do not trust the government of Sudan, there cannot be peace when both parties have lost trust in one another. Who is suffering? The civilians are suffering.

We ask other parties involved to commit to their responsibilities, and to respect the rights of those human beings who are dying every day in Darfur. We are asking the government to stop attacking the people of Darfur, and we ask the rebels to cooperate with the international community and those who are really interested to make real peace. We ask that the rebels be united to address the people in peace negotiations, and not allow the government to separate them by sending spies in their midst, creating more factions, which undermines the peace efforts. We also ask the United Nations to honor their promises to the people of Darfur, and to implement resolution 1769. We do not want a repeat of the scenarios that preceded resolution 1769. We need the United Nations Security Council to really be aware of this problem, we do not need resolution after resolution, and we need actions that will deliver real peace. We need the UN to send the 26,000 peace keepers this January unfailingly. We need that the United States to take the lead of this new resolution, and not the African Union, who are not capable of such a task. Sooner or later, Justice will prevail and those who are in the right will overcome, and the leaders of the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed Arab militia will be held accountable and punished. This is the only way the peace will be real and the people will enjoy. There were 52 people who were found guilty of crimes against humanity and genocide, not only Ahmed Haroun and Ali Kushayb, but there are many others including Al Bashir, who must all face the penalty of their crimes. Without accountability, even if peace is achieved it will not last long.