In the case of Darfur, some negotiations have already been held by the American special envoy, and by John Holmes, with a view to restoring some level of humanitarian assistance and to filling the gaps left by the departure of the 13 international NGOs.
As well, there have been negotiations with the Sudanese government for an assessment to be done jointly by the government and the United Nations. For one thing, these two parallel negotiations have produced a monitoring system that will be at a very high level with the oversight committee that the new agreement has established. That has also produced an agreement for some humanitarian organizations to return. They will not necessarily be the same as the ones that left, or possibly they will be the same, but with different logos. For example, if Oxfam was expelled, it may not be Oxfam GB that will go back, but perhaps Oxfam Spain may be accepted and welcomed.
There is a little progress on that front. Now we shall see what actually happens. We cannot know exactly how the government will react. It is certain that humanitarian assistance, aid for victims of the war, has served political ends. In particular, I would say that the issue was blown out of proportion because the Obama administration was just taking office and it became the starting point for negotiations on other more political and more serious matters such as the indictment against President al-Bashir. It was not exclusively that, but that was part of it.
The first stage of the negotiations will be the longest one. The big question today is where they will lead. Will we or will we not have, as I said earlier, a national strategy for all Sudan, bringing together humanitarian, political and security concerns – peacekeeping and politics, in particular – and Darfur, the east of the country and South Darfur into the same national strategy?