A bit old but still much worth noting

"Joy and relief" was the response to the signing of a deal that hopefully will lead to the end of a vicious civil war that has gone on for over 20 years and left two million dead in Sudan, said the BBC for May 27.

There were scenes of jubilation at the signing in Naivasha, Kenya, late on Wednesday evening as last-minute delays were overcome after two years of discussions. ...

The deal involved protocols on power-sharing and the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan. ...

The framework brings together the mainly Muslim Arab government of the north with the black African Christian and animist rebels of the south.

The heart of the pact is that the south will be autonomous for six years, including with its own monetary system, with a vote on independence at the end of that time. Meanwhile, the north will continue to be ruled under Sharia law, a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Toward that end, agreements have been reached on distribution of government jobs, the sharing of oil revenues, and security arrangements involving the respective armies. Supposedly, all that remains to put and end to the bloodshed are procedural details.

But it's said that every dark cloud has a silver lining. If that's so, does it also imply that every silver cloud has a dark lining? For in this case, hope has a dark side and it's name is Darfur. Yes, that Darfur, the one the executive director of Amnesty International called the case human rights violations most in need of being addressed.

Darfur, in the western part of the country, has been the target of a vicious campaign of "ethnic-based murder, rape and forcible displacement of civilians," carried out by government forces and its allied Arab militias known as "Janjaweed." One million people have been driven from their homes.

Those charges by Human Rights Watch, made in an April report, are echoed by a UN report of May 7, which found "appalling" conditions amid a "reign of terror."

One aid worker in Kailek described what happened there as the "politics of starvation". ...

Members of the UN team were said to be "visibly shaken" by circumstances in the town.

The fear among some is that the peace settlement between north and south will allow the government to shift military forces and resources against Darfur. Ominously, Sudan vice president Ali Osman Taha told a rally celebrating the peace accord that

[o]ne of the first fruits of peace will be the extinguishing of the conflict in Darfur....

We will begin tomorrow to focus our efforts, to turn over the page of war in Darfur as the page of conflict and killing was turned over in the south.

While some may take comfort in his linking of moves to peace between north and south with Darfur, I find it hard to find such solace in the words of someone who in the present situation uses the word "extinguish."