Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) – "It is an important yet incomplete step towards peace. It is still too soon to claim that peace has returned to Darfur," Bishop Macram Max Gassis of El Obeid told Fides in commenting on the framework agreement signed in Doha (Qatar) on February 23 (see Fides 24/2/2010) by the Sudanese government and the JEM (Justice and Equality Movement). "The agreements were signed by the strongest military group, but until the other groups sit down at the negotiating table, there will not be peace in Darfur," said Bishop Macram.
"The Khartoum government is certainly responsible for the atrocities committed against civilians, but it is not the only one responsible. The various rebel groups have carried out and continue to carry out violence on the population. I think especially of poor women who are forced to walk miles to get water and firewood, and then are robbed and raped. Not all the violence in Darfur can be attributed to the government alone, which however is to blame for having turned a deaf ear to the protests of its inhabitants who called for progress and not bullets," says the Bishop of El Obeid, whose diocese includes the territory of Darfur.
"We must work to convince all the guerrilla groups to reach an agreement with the government in Khartoum. This is the only way to see if the Sudanese regime is sincere and truly wants to end the war," concluded Bishop Gassis. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/2/2010)
