Agata Hinc, Warsaw, Poland

AfricaNews - Last week the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon visited a Sudanese region, in which at least 200,000 people have died and more than 2,5 million have been displaced since 2003. He decided to visit Darfur to convince Sudanese leaders and rebels to continue the peace talks and, as international correspondents say, because he wanted to understand the difficult conditions into which the world's biggest peacekeeping force would eventually be deployed.
"I appeal to the government of Sudan and to all parties to refrain from military action and choose (...) the path of peace and political dialogue," Ban Ki-Moon said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited a refugee camp in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, which holds 48,000 people. Although he was "shocked and humbled" by what he saw, he said after visiting the camp, he had wanted to use his position to give the refugees hope.

Peace talks

Mr. Ban said last week he was close to announcing a date and venue for talks between Khartoum and some eight rebel groups over the future of Darfur. The Sudanese government and the UN have announced in their joint statement that peace talks will take place in Libya on 27 October. UN chief Ban Ki-Moon says he has received strong support from Libya's leader to forge a final settlement to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

We can call getting a date and a venue for new Darfur peace talks between the government of Sudan and the rebel factions a step forward, but there is still one problem. The leader of the largest rebel group has told he will not attend while the conflict continues. "We are not going to Libya to negotiate unless we can guarantee the security of our people. This is a failing process and the SLM is not a movement that fails," he said.

Peace forces

We receive some positive signals about forming the AU/UN peacekeeping force. One of them can be the assurance of Mr. Ban that plans to send a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force next year are "on good track". Another one is that, after months of prevarication, the Sudanese government finally agreed to accept a joint African Union/United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur.

But there are also some problems. Where so many African troops would come from? Who will be a part of this forces? The AU isn't big enough to organize 26,000 men. The whole Africa will be mobilized. Speaking after talks in Khartoum with the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Mr. Konare, the Chairman of the African Commission since 2003, said: "I can confirm today that we have received sufficient commitments from African countries that we will not have to resort to non-African forces."

To make AU/UN force effective there will be needed something more than couple thousands men with guns. Farhan Haq, UN spokesman, understands this matter. "It's not simply a question of raw numbers of troops, we're trying to find a good mix of skills," Mr. Hag said. "We're looking to make sure this force is robust, it's mobile, it's well-armed and equipped, so that it can carry out the full mandate that it needs to perform" he added.

Why a good solution is so complicated?

The first problem is that not every Darfur citizen is in favor of Sudan-UN cooperation. During his trip Mr. Ban was cheered by refugees at the camp, but earlier he had faced a group of protesters at the UN's compound. Pro-government demonstrators demanded to be included in a meeting Mr. Ban was holding with leaders of the displaced people in the camps. While his earlier visit to the UN compound in El Fasher, the protesters gathered shouting anti-UN slogans.

Attacks against humanitarians - that's something what really complicate the situation. There are more than 12,000 aid workers in Darfur but 12 were killed across the region in 2006 and five since the beginning of this year, according to a recent UN report. Almost every party to the conflict in Darfur has for some reason been involved in attacking the assets and people involved in humanitarian work. Aid workers are withdrawing temporarily or permanently from certain areas because it is often impossible to work there.

"There are far too many guns in Darfur and people will not feel fully safe to return to their former villages until they see fewer guns in circulation," said Paul Barker, Sudan country director for CARE. How to make people safe in their own country? This question is asked by billions of people whole around the world these days. Let's hope the solution is found soon.