SAVE DARFUR: JOINT MEDIATOR 'SOLID STEP' FOR PEACE IN SUDAN

Fowler: 'The United Nations and African Union must properly staff, resource, and empower the envoy to reenergize the peace process. Short of that, the U.N. and AU are simply promoting a new captain of the Titanic.'

WASHINGTON - The Save Darfur Coalition today released a statement applauding the appointment of Burkina Faso foreign minister Djibril Bassole as the new joint African Union - United Nations mediator for Sudan peace negotiations. Coalition president Jerry Fowler, along with ENOUGH Project co-chair John Prendergast, earlier this year released a report urging the appointment of a single mediator who is empowered and resourced to broker peace between the Government of Sudan and the disparate rebel movements. The activists lauded Bassole's appointment, but cautioned it is just the beginning of a long peace process that has been bereft by monumental setbacks and delays.

Read the report here: "Creating a Peace to Keep in Darfur" .

"Minister Bassole's appointment as joint mediator is a solid step to reenergizing the stalled Sudan peace process, however, this step is just one of many needed to realize a lasting peace," Fowler said. "The new mediator's success is predicated on the United Nations and African Union properly staffing, resourcing, and empowering him to reenergize the peace process. Short of that, the U.N. and AU are simply promoting a new captain of the Titanic. The international community must likewise support Bassole's mission by forming a diplomatic quartet led by the U.S., China, the UK and France to support the negotiating process.

"The Sudanese government, the rebel factions, and civil society must accept Bassole as the joint mediator and commit to working with him and his staff to achieve a lasting peace. The new mediator must in turn immediately begin working to unify the rebels, bring representatives of Darfuri civil society - including IDPs, refugees, and women - to the table, and press the Sudanese government to create a just, equitable, and lasting peace for Darfur."

Erstwhile efforts to advance peace in Darfur have been largely stillborn, because of a duplicitous central government and fractured and fractious rebel movements. Despite repeated ceasefire agreements and high-profile attempts to conduct meaningful negotiations between the rebels and the government, violence still persists and Darfuri civilians continue to suffer. While the critical UNAMID peacekeeping mission is moving forward "fitfully" despite monumental Sudanese obstruction, the peace process has not witnessed similar progress.

The Save Darfur Coalition and ENOUGH Project report urged the appointment of a "single, empowered" mediator in lieu of the present joint AU-U.N. envoy structure, which is marred by diffused responsibility and, consequently, diffused effectiveness. Activists said the mediator must have the full support of Quartet diplomats and should be empowered to act on all peace process issues with the authority to isolate would-be spoilers to the overall effort.