Sudan, rebel group agree; Land urges U.S. aid

By Tom Strode - May 1, 2006 - comment

The Sudanese government and Darfur’s largest rebel group signed an agreement May 5 in an effort to bring peace to a region of the African country that has been devastated by what the Bush administration has described as genocide.

The signing of the peace plan came five days after tens of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to protest the human rights violations in Darfur. ERLC President Richard Land was among religious leaders, political figures, human rights activists, entertainers and survivors of genocide in other countries who spoke at the rally.

The agreement between the Islamic regime in Khartoum and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) hopefully will end a three-year conflict that has left 200,000 to 450,000 people dead and more than two million homeless, according to various estimates. Two other rebel factions, however, refused to agree to the plan.

The agreement includes the following: (1) The government-sponsored militia, known as the Janjaweed, will be disarmed by mid-October; (2) rebel forces will be dismantled after the Janjaweed has been disarmed, and some of the rebels will join Sudan’s military and police; (3) the SLM will possess the fourth highest position in the Sudanese government; (4) the rebel groups will control Darfur’s regional government, and a 2010 referendum will be held to determine if the region will have a single governing body, and (5) Khartoum will provide $30 million in compensation to victims in Darfur.

At the April 30 rally, Land told the crowd, according to Baptist Press, “We cannot ignore the greatest crisis of the human race today, which is the government committing genocide against its own people. To do anything other than to come to the aid of the millions of our Darfurian brothers and sisters who are suffering under a cruel and murderous ‘thugocracy’ of a regime masquerading as a legitimate government is to deny the humanity of those helpless people and to deny the commands of our Lord and God.”

President Bush hailed the agreement May 8 and urged Congress to approve an additional $225 million in food aid he has proposed for Sudan. “We’re still far away from our ultimate goal, which is the return of millions of displaced people to their homes so they can have a life without fear,” he said. “But we can now see a way forward.”

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