The refugees prepare to return home

摘要

While war rages unchecked in western Sudan, southerners are preparing for peace. The outside world's efforts to end the killing in the Darfur region "are getting nowhere", complained John Dan-forth, America's ambassador to the UN, this week. But Sudan's other civil war, between the Muslim Arab-dominated north and the black, non-Muslim south, is nearly over. Both parties—the northern government and the southern rebels-have promised to sign a peace deal by the end of this month. And unlike the frequent truces relating to Darfur, which "mean nothing at all", according to Mr Danforth, this one is expected to stick. The most striking sign of optimism is that hundreds of thousands of refugees from the south are preparing to go home. Indeed, UN officials claim that a great migration has already begun.