Mission Leader is Cautiously Optimistic on Chances for Peace in Darfur Region of Sudan

New York, NY, May 6, 2006—The head of The United Methodist Church’s international mission agency says he is cautiously optimistic that a significant step has been taken toward peace in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the General Board of Global Ministries, responded to reports of the signing of a peace agreement between the government of Sudan and the Sudan Liberation Army. Civil conflict in Darfur, a region of western Sudan about the size of Texas, has left two million people homeless—many as refugees in neighboring Chad—and caused the deaths of some 180,000 people over the last three years.

However, as Rev. Day pointed out, several smaller groups opposed to the government have not yet signed the agreement, which was brokered by diplomats from the United States and the United Kingdom. He thanked the negotiators and urged the hold-out groups to enter the peace process.

Day also called upon the nations of the world to step up their contributions to the World Food Program’s efforts in Darfur. The food agency related to the United Nations in early May announced it was cutting back on food allotments to Darfur because of inadequate contributions from governments.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Day noted, is working in a rural area of Sudan helping people in a refugee camp and others to restart their lives. UMCOR has been in Sudan for 18 months. “We commit ourselves to continue to serve the people of Darfur and to work for peace and justice there,” Day said.

The full text of Day’s statement follows:
“We are cautiously optimistic that initial steps are underway toward ending the tragic conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. The General Board of Global Ministries welcomes the signing of a peace agreement on May 5, 2006 between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), an agreement aimed at ending a three-year old confrontation. More than two million people have been driven from their homes and perhaps 180,000 people killed in the civil strife. We hope that the other parties to the conflict will join in this fragile peace process.

“At the same time, we are deeply distressed by news that the United Nations’ World Food Program has been forced to reduce supplies to Darfurian refugees and the displaced to about half of what is considered the minimum daily nutritional requirement. The reduction results from a profoundly regrettable shortage of contributions to the food program by nations around the world.

“We know first hand through our relief and rehabilitation work in southern Darfur about the suffering of the people there. The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has been on the ground in Darfur for some 18 months, helping families in the Al Daein area survive and to restore their farms and other means of making a living. We have also assisted refugees fleeing the Darfur region of Sudan into neighboring Chad.

“The situation in Darfur cries out for massive efforts to achieve peace, maintain stability, and restore the sense of a future to the region’s eight million people.

“We hope that all combatants will allow United Nations and Africa Union peacekeepers to operate effectively for the welfare of all communities in Darfur, an area about the size of Texas. We commend the negotiators from the United States and the United Kingdom that have worked hard to broker the peace accord.

“We commit ourselves to continue to serve the people of Darfur and to work for peace and justice there. We urge governments around the world to contribute more generously to the UN’s food program for Darfur.”

The political and economic situation in Darfur and all of Sudan is highly complex and does not lend itself to quick description.

Two thorough and thoughtful recent analyses are:

Washington Post, “5 Truths about Darfur,” by Emily Wax, April 23, 2006, online at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR2006042101752.html
New York Times, “An Incomplete Peace: Sudan's Never-Ending War with Itself” by Lydia Polgreen, May 4, 2006, online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/world/africa/04darfur.html