On this day in ....... 1904 (105 years ago today), Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, the British Foreign Secretary known as Lord Lansdowne (left), and French Ambassador Paul Cambon (right) signed an instrument titled, in English, the "Declaration between the United Kingdom and France Respecting Egypt and Morocco, Together with the Secret Articles Signed at the Same Time," but commonly known as the Entente Cordiale. The bilateral treaty signed in London settled lingering colonial disputes and established a "diplomatic understanding" without fully committing to mutual defense. Motivating the initiative was apprehension about German militarism; thus the Entente is a precursor to World War I.
... 2004 (5 years ago today), at N'Djamena, Chad, representatives of Sudan and 2 rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Sudan Justice and Equality Movement, signed a Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement, in which they pledged to stop fighting in Darfur. Violence in that province, in western Sudan and at Chad's eastern border, continues to this day, as our posts on Darfur make evident.
