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| May 31, 2010 |
| May 25, 2010 |
Obama Ignores Sudan's Genocide
African hopes are fading as the U.S. lets President Omar al-Bashir escape justice.
BY MIA FARROW
Last week U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that although he remains supportive of "international efforts" to bring Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to justice, the Obama administration is also pursuing "locally owned accountability and reconciliation mechanisms in light of the recommendations made by the African Union's high-level panel on Darfur."
Mr. Bashir is indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but the African Union Panel on Darfur has clearly aligned itself with Khartoum. One panel member, former Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Al Sayed, said in an interview with an Egyptian newspaper, "The prosecution of an African head of state before an international tribunal is totally unacceptable. Our goal was to find a way out."
The African Union panel is led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who in 2008 dismissed the ICC indictment, saying that it is "the responsibility of the Sudanese state to act on those matters." Then, late last year his panel proposed a counter initiative to the ICC in the form of a hybrid Sudan-based court with both Arab and African judges to be selected by the African Union.
But all this is moot since Mr. Bashir swiftly rejected Mr. Mbeki's proposal. Perversely, Mr. Gration has now thrown U.S. government support to a tribunal that does not and probably will never exist. Even if it did, the "locally owned accountability" he refers to is not feasible under prevailing political conditions, as any Sudan-based court will be controlled by the perpetrators themselves.
For seven years, the people of Darfur have been pleading for protection and for justice. They do not believe either peace or justice can come while Mr. Bashir-orchestrator of their suffering- remains president of Sudan. Nor do they believe "locally owned accountability" is remotely possible under the current regime.
When Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, hope abounded, even in Darfur's bleak refugee camps. Darfuris believed this son of Africa could understand their suffering, would end the violence that has taken so much from them, and bring Mr. Bashir to justice. The refugees hoped that "Yes we can" was meant for them too. They believed President Obama would bring peace and protection to Darfur and would settle for nothing less than true justice.
I have held new babies named Obama and watched as Darfuris began to dream again. Fatima Haroun, a 24-year-old widow and mother told me the day was surely near when the refugees could leave the filth and hunger of the camps and safely return to the ashes of their villages. First, she said, they would honor their lost loved ones; they would search the ashes for bones, wrap them in best cloths, and bury them with respect. They would gather wood and tall grasses to rebuild their homes, they would sing new songs and prepare their fields for planting. Hunger and terror would go away. Omar al-Bashir would rot in jail.
Such hopes did not last long.
Nearly three million souls are still waiting in wretched camps across Darfur and eastern Chad. Sudanese government bombs are still falling, murderers and rapists still roam free, and the refugees have not felt safe for a very long time. The Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon has expressed concern over increasing levels of violence in Darfur.
In their darkest hours and through losses too grievous to fathom, the world has repeatedly abandoned the people of Darfur. Over more than seven years, two American presidents have used the word "genocide" to describe what was has unfolded there, but they have done little to end it.
It is past time for us to step up and accept our moral obligation to protect a defenseless people. The American people should urge Mr. Gration and the Obama administration to lead a diplomatic offensive to convince the world to isolate Omar alBashir as a fugitive from justice, and to whole-heartedly support the only body offering Darfur's people a measure of authentic justice: the International Criminal Court.
Ms. Farrow has visited Darfur and eastern Chad 13 times since 2004.
| May 23, 2010 |
It is not surprising that the head of the African Union/UN Mission, Ibrahim Gambari, also plans to be there. The Arab League and African Union have expressed complete solidarity with Al Bashir and given him a warm welcome in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Doha, Libya, Eritrea and Ethiopia. But we expect better of the UN.
Call the UN. Ask to speak to the US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice. Ask to speak to Ban Ki Moon. Leave messages--on behalf of the people of Darfur.
| May 4, 2010 |
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) will call for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to retake the lead on implementing U.S. policy on Sudan. In addition, he will make several other recommendations, including that the U.S. not recognize the outcome of the recent presidential elections in Sudan.
Wolf, the co-chairman of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, is widely recognized for his leadership on issues involving Sudan over the last 20 years.
| May 2, 2010 |
It's an area so difficult to reach that U.N. officials on Saturday announced a previously unreported massacre that occurred two months ago: up to 100 people were killed when the rebel Lord's Resistance Army attacked a village.
It comes two months after one of the worst massacres recently committed by the LRA, the killings of more than 300 civilians in the area in the second week of December. Rebels also kidnapped more than 250 people including 80 children, according to the U.N.
"In this district, the Lord's Resistance Army has continued to commit horrific atrocities against civilians, who are now displaced with no prospect of going back home any time soon", Holmes said Saturday, on the third day of a four-day tour from his New York headquarters.
The latest attacks highlight the need for the continued presence in Congo of the U.N. military mission, Holmes said. Congo's government wants MONUC — the largest U.N. peacekeeping mission with some 20,000 troops — to leave before September 2011.
"We are worried by the prospect of a premature withdrawal because MONUC is very important to our humanitarian activities," Holmes said in an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday. "If you withdraw that element of stability that is MONUC then other conflicts contained by the presence of MONUC may get out of control and you could find yourself in a much more dangerous situation."
Rwandan rebels who helped perpetrate their countries 1994 genocide, fled across the border continue to attack civilians, killing, burning homes and driving some 1.4 million from their homes.
Mr. Bashir threatened to oust the international election observers, saying, "if they interfere in our affairs, we will cut their fingers off, put them under our shoes and throw them out".
Could the image of a pile of bloody fingers be the reason both the European Union and Carter Center observers declared that the elections "fall short of meeting international standards" , but did not openly condemn the sham election? The observers had the opportunity and moral obligation to speak out on behalf of those in Darfur and other parts of Sudan whose voices are not being heard.The Carter Center should go spine shopping.
| May 1, 2010 |
The best way to clear a room in most diplomatic circles is to announce that Omar al-Bashir is arriving.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/world/africa/02sudan.html