March
23:
Had junior officers over for dinner tonight, part of charm offensive
and my new approach to trying to have and encourage fun. Went well I
think but I had two martinis. At ten, USAID Roger arrived and we
chatted and did some business till just late. We get on fine but I
had two martinis. Rest of USAID probably still hates me. Can't
please everyone and still do good. Busy day.
March
24:
It was a crazy day but worked out ok. Chasing Salah [Gosh]. Looks like
the Darfur talks may get off the ground sometime early next week. We
launch our group from here early tomorrow. I have to get up at six
to say goodbye to Roger [Winter]. Janice, our poloff, is going too. I played
a big role in arranging this possibility but few will ever know. But
it'll be good if it works to bring peace.
March
26:
Had a nice dinner last night with my IGAD colleagues -- Kenya,
Uganda, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Kenyan host invited Somalia rep and
South African. I really like the Africans. Stayed later than I
expected cause Elijah, the Kenyan, wanted to talk more about Somalia.
The IGAD countries want US help. Maybe I'll volunteer to do Somalia
after Sudan.
March
27:
Combined work with napping today. Tried to chase down a rebel
leader not yet committed to talks. Also attended a UN reception for
the departing UN chief. Standing for two hours was a killer. Last
night was the excellent Rec Site dance. Sore knees but good time.
March
29:
It seems like the work we did has managed to avoid being derailed by [USAID and French]. Darfur talks look to start
tomorrow in Chad. Last minute efforts made here seem to have gotten
chief rebel holdout to go. Now if the USAID/French crew don't fuck
up the actual talks, there may be hope. But I feel good that the
last month of effort has gotten to this point. Sure too bad that god
isn't keeping score because that'd be all the credit I ever get. I
made this happen in my typical way, mostly invisible but enough
showed to get me more enmity than anything else from the USAID shits.
Met
with leaders of chief opposition parties today including useful lunch
with Sadiq El Mahdi in his pavilion in his back garden. Janice
called from N’djamena to say that the arrival of the rebels was a
scene out of Lawrence of Arabia. Ah what times we live in here along
the margins of the Sahara.
