DARFUR TESTS NEW FRENCH RESOLVE !

Darfur tests new French resolve
By Jonah Fisher BBC News, Paris.

Millions of people have been displaced by the fighting in Darfur. After appearing to care little about Darfur for the last four years - five weeks of the Sarkozy presidency have thrust France into the centre of efforts to resolve the conflict.
"Silence kills," Nicholas Sarkozy told a day long conference in Paris. "We want to mobilise the international community to say that's enough."
More than two million people have been displaced from their homes since the conflict began - and it's thought that at least 200,000 people have been killed.
Eighteen countries were represented at the talks, as well as the heads of the United Nations and the Arab League.
More noticeable through were the absentees.
None of the conflict's protagonists - Sudan, Chad or the Darfur rebels - were invited.
And most surprising of all, the African Union, the region's current peacekeepers, declined to attend.

African Union peacekeepers have been unable to end the fighting.
Evidently not everyone is thrilled about France's sudden wish to get involved.
Two weeks ago, Sudan gave it's approval for a joint United Nations-African Union force to be deployed into Darfur.
If it was expecting a few verbal pats on the back it was to be disappointed.
"We can no longer afford a situation in Darfur in which agreements are made and then not kept," US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said.
"The United States will continue to argue that there must be consequences for Sudan if it does not live up to the obligations that it has undertaken."
There is still plenty of scope for Sudan to delay the deployment.

The ball is actually in the court of the UN - Lam Akol, Sudan foreign minister.
The make-up of the hybrid African Union-United Nations force has yet to be finalised - with details such as the exact composition of the force unresolved.
It is not even the first time that Sudan has agreed to this force. In November last year they gave it their approval before proceeding to reject almost every detail that was proposed.
"We are ready to have the force deployed at any time - the matter is on the other side," Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol told the BBC.
"The ball is actually in the court of the United Nations to expedite the operation."
But despite Mr Akol's lofty title - his thoughts are rarely the final word on Khartoum's policy.
It is the ministers controlling Sudan's security apparatus who have the real power - and they are likely to assert their views only when the actual mechanics of troop deployment are discussed.
Roadmap to nowhere?
Even with Sudan's complete acquiescence it is likely to be 2008 before most of the troops arrive.
Three thousand UN troops are expected this autumn followed by up to 10,000 the following year.
"It's cumbersome," said UN special envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson. "But the most pressing issue is that we establish a political process so that when the peacekeepers do arrive there is actually a peace for them to keep."
Mr Eliasson has made four trips to Sudan this year - and has drawn up a roadmap towards planned negotiations in August.
So far there has been no indication that anyone else is using the same map.
One of the biggest hurdles is the state of Darfur's rebel movements.
When the conflict started in 2003 there were just two rebel groups. Now there are at least 10.
Rival commanders with widely ranging aspirations now control most of Darfur's arid countryside.
For peace talks to take place - the rebels will have to unite around a negotiating team and some common objectives.
Up until now there has been little sign of that taking place. The Sudanese government faces a crisis of credibility.
It signed a peace agreement with one rebel faction in May 2006 but has implemented few of its provisions.
If a lasting peace deal is to be made Khartoum will have to convince whoever they negotiate with that they are genuinely committed to sharing wealth and power.

BBC NEWS REPORT.