Dafur is an African problem. The government of that country is as sovereign as any on this continent and the world - which is never the basis of allowing abuses, but still that plays a very large role as to the stance of Africa. America and the West must stay out of this one. The funny thing is that Dafur has become some sort of cause that the Trendy Socially Aware Liberals of the West have adopted, almost like pilates and meditation. Many of them will never set foot in that country. I have been there. And the situation is dire. Before the death of John Garang I met some representatives of his movement, SPLM in South Africa. The strange thing is that they were accompanied by representatives of the government. So in the discussions that we held, it became increasingly clear that government was never going to allow any foreign parties interfere within their issues.
Yes Dafur is a major problem, but the government have sworn that they will unleash hell should an UN-led peacekeeping effort set foot in that country against the will of the government. Sudan cannot be attacked and re-educated in the ways of modern democracy, much unlike Iraq is. It is unfortunate that people are dying and it seems like the rest of the continent is quite content to see that happening. Those who know anything about Afrian conflicts know that these are regional tensions. In that regard to start finding solutions to Darfur's problems, African heads of states should start looking at solving the problems of porous borders which further compound the cross-border dynamic of these conflicts. Should this be successfully done, then Darfur will be dealt with in complete isolation.
This is only part of the solutions that have been considered - the rest is up to the Khartoum-based government of Sudan.
