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| June 12, 2008 |
Disputing Alex de Waal
I have the utmost respect for Alex's work; I have read his book (Short History of a Long War) - the most comprehensive and instructive history of Darfur. He is a brilliant Sudan scholar. Few people (certainly Roger Winter is one) know as much about Sudan.I also like him personally.
Years ago he wrote this description of the Khartoum regime
"(The counterinsurgency war in Darfur) is not the genocidal campaign of a government at the heights of its ideological hubris, as the 1192 jihad against the Nuba Mountains was, or coldly determined to secure natural resourses, as when it sought to clear the oilfields of southern Sudan of their troublesome inhabitants. This is the routine cruelty of a security cabal, its humanity withered by years in power:it is genocide by force of habit."
It is bewildering that the above passage was written by the same man who, over the last year has made outrageous claims based on skewed suppositions rather than fact. He has opposed the deployment of the UN protection force to Darfur, and, outrageously, he now claims that the indictments of two mass murderers by the International Criminal Court will hinder the peace process in Sudan. These articles by Mr de Waal have been helpful only to the murderous Government of Sudan.
It is worth reading excerpts from a fine public response by Dr James Smith of Aegis Trust:
http://www.guardian.co.uk
"If you believe Alex de Waal and his co-signatories (Letters, June 10), you could be forgiven for thinking that the mass killings in Darfur happened by accident. The truth is that the Sudanese government has not only failed to protect the camps but has been the main perpetrator of the violence. The scale of the killings in Darfur has required money, arms and support that only senior people in the government could have provided.
"Both Darfur and Sudan as a whole need justice if we are to break the cycles of killing that have plagued the country for decades. Letting people get away with murder, rape and crimes against humanity is no basis for a viable peace process."
Dr James Smith Chief executive, Aegis Trust
Louise Roland-Gosselin Director, Waging Peace