Defeating insurgents there could help to calm the nation and set the conditions for elections, commanders say.
We don't have the right conditions for elections, and that is why we could get one of these kinds of surprises".
Prime Minister Gérard Latortue and his caretaker government, backed by the peacekeepers, are focused on setting conditions for elections in 2005, attracting foreign investment and aid, and trying to restore a semblance of normality so that rebuilding can go forward.
After three days of meetings in Zimbabwe, the State Department's top human rights official said today that he had made no progress in persuading the government of President Robert Mugabe to improve conditions for elections and halt intimidation of the opposition.
The key is to make clear to one and all that we can create conditions for elections and for a lawful, liberal society, but we can't force people to follow through on them.
Some groups have called for a transitional government or the dissolution of the Congress as a condition for new elections.
Hoping to force Mr. Noda's hand, however, the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and its former coalition ally New Komeito have changed tactics and appear poised to pass the deficit bond bill that Mr. Noda set as a condition for calling elections.
Labour can afford to give itself a pat on the back, notably for doing much better in the South than it did in last year's local elections, a necessary pre-condition for general election victory.
Ensuring the conditions for this election to take place should be the priority on which all parties agree.
General Gration and others say they will do everything they can to ensure fair conditions for the election, but they seem prepared to help deliver Mr. Bashir a political victory, and a chance for legitimacy in order to keep Humpty Dumpty intact.
