Re Nesrine Malik’s article (For a full year, the bodies have piled up in Sudan – and still the world looks away, 15 April), in 2002 I was the chief of staff to the joint monitoring mission (JMM) in Sudan’s Nuba mountains, in South Kordofan. The JMM was charged with overseeing a ceasefire agreement through dialogue, information and diligent investigation of actions that threatened the agreement. Two years later I was attached to the African Union (AU) in Darfur, attempting to pause the conflict there and allow dialogue between the conflict parties and hopefully bring a peaceful resolution.
The JMM successfully achieved stability and normality in the Nuba, whereas in Darfur the conflict, although reduced, continued to simmer and displace people, mostly internally into IDP camps. The different outcomes for the two conflicts 20 years ago was due to the quality of endeavour applied by the JMM and the AU with the local populations, local officials, the UN and NGOs to achieve a result that satisfied all local communities.
