I just came across an interesting article in the Washington Post about Bill Richardson’s recent success in getting Sudan’s president, Bashir, to agree to a 60 day cease fire.  This could be nothing at all, considering the history of broken cease fire agreements in Sudan. Or it could actually be the beginning of something substantial.  I don’t know which it is, and I admit that I do have a bit of skepticism here.  However, what struck me most about this story was that Richardson went to Sudan as an individual state governor sent by an NGO, the Save Darfur Coalition, and basically had nothing to bargain away. 

Despite having no diplomatic standing it seems that he might have moved this process further than the Bush administration has been able to do in the past several months.  This, despite the appointment of Andrew Natsios as Bush’s special envoy to Sudan.  It really makes me wonder what kind of pressure the US is really placing on Sudan if a state governor can get a cease fire agreement without the authority to make any concessions.  Perhaps there’s more to Richardson’s visit than meets the eye.  But, my understanding is that he hasn’t been granted any special authority by the US government.  If that’s the case, with all the Bush administration’s strong rhetoric, why hadn’t we been able to get such an agreement sooner?  

As I said before, this agreement may not lead to anything.  But, it could be a step in the right direction.   If this is for real, it will be a tragedy that it took so long in coming. 

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