Fears confirmed?

"They won't give peace a chance/That's just a dream some of us had." The BBC carries the rest of the tune:

[Jan Pronk, t]he UN's special envoy in Sudan says government military forces have been operating in the western Darfur region. ...

He said government bombers and helicopter gunships fly regularly over north and south Darfur and 40 villages had been hit by pro-government militia. ...

African Union monitors have been trying to investigate the reported air attack on the town of Shangil Tobaya on Wednesday, where 100 people are believed to have died.

They were turned away by Sudanese soldiers on Thursday, an AU official told the BBC earlier. ...

"Many villages around Labado are constantly being attacked - not with airplanes but by militia and these villages are being burned down and completely demolished," [Pronk] said.

The beginning of this month, I expressed my relief at the news that a preliminary peace accord had been reached to end the 20-plus year civil war between northern and southern Sudan. At the same time, I reminded people that six months earlier, when the pact was first announced, I noted that Sudan vice president Ali Osman Taha declared that one of the "fruits of peace" would be "the extinguishing of the conflict in Darfur."

"I find it hard," I said at that time, to find solace "in the words of someone who in the present situation uses the word 'extinguish.'" I was concerned that the end of one war would only enable the government to focus more firepower on the other. I sincerely hope that fear is not coming to pass.

Meanwhile, the oh-so-impartial US State Department

said all sides were involved in the latest fighting.

"All the parties, the government of Sudan, the militias that are allied with the government and the rebels, are to blame for this increase in violence," said state department spokesman Richard Boucher.

It's absolutely true that the "ceasefire" signed last year has been a joke, heavily violated by all sides. But when one side is doing all the dying, such supposed evenhandedness seems, what's a polite term - how about "inappropriate?" Or maybe "improper." Or what about "stupid?" Stupid. Yeah, that will do for now. It's stupid.