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John O'Shea, Irish Examiner, 31st January 2007
Reflecting on 30 years of involvement in the developing word, the tragedies of Cambodia (1977-1979), Ethiopia (1984), Rwanda (1994) and the DRC (1997- current), reminds me of the sheer indifference of the international community to the welfare of the vulnerable and the desperately poor amongst us.
What has occurred over the last four years, and what will transpire in the months ahead in Darfur, convinces me that the world’s attitude to solving the most pressing of all issues on the planet – has remained unchanged.
It seems the international community has yet to learn and digest lessons from the horrendous massacres that have traumatised large sections in the population. Too little too late has become the rule, not the exception for international peacekeeping, and Darfur is the latest victim of this inaction.
It is an appalling indictment of the international community that the people in this tortured zone have been allowed to suffer so terribly and for so long. The United
Nations cannot say it was taken by surprise. At the onset of the humanitarian crisis, two weeks after trouble first broke out, humanitarian aid agencies, major newspapers, and respected diplomats all warned of the imploding genocide in the region, and begged the UN to take action to bring an end to the brutal campaign waged by the Janajweed, a militia sponsored by the Sudanese government. It was clear to all on the ground that it wasn’t an aid response that was needed, it was an international military peacekeeping force that was required to protect innocent civilians and keep the aid channels open.
Darfur has continued to spiral further out of control, strangling the life out of the region’s 4 million survivors. Appalling acts of brutality have displaced over 2.5 million people. The scale of the suffering, misery, squalor, depression and fall-out of societal breakdown they have been forced to live through is surpassed by few regions in the world.
It is difficult for rank and file people to grasp the concept that the international community - governments with their mighty resources, diplomatic muscle backed up by military might - have decided that they aren’t going to budge on the issue of Darfur.
And the reason for this is clear: greed. The desire to align itself with China far outstrips the west’s concern for the humanitarian needs of Darfur’s vulnerable. China is the place where millions can be made, and the west is quick to pounce wanting a stake in this new-found wealth. And if this means not offending China, then so be it.
The Asian tiger is the largest customer for Sudan’s rapidly growing oil exports, which account for more than half of the country’s revenues - as well as being a major investor in the petroleum industry.
China’s thirst for Sudan’s oil is implicating the country in genocide. As one of five veto- wielding permanent members, China provides diplomatic cover for Sudan at the Security Council. It was China’s refusal to agree to the resolution authorising peacekeepers for Darfur that led to the inclusion of a clause requiring Khartoum’s consent first. This rendered ineffective September’s UN Security Council resolution to deploy 20,000 troops to Darfur to replace a cash-strapped force of 7,000 African Union soldiers.
Still the diplomatic wrangling and UN-sponsored talk shops have mumbled on: meetings, discussions, more meetings, conferences, discussion groups and more meetings. We have heard a litany of promises and pledges, expressions of regret and differences of opinion on how to solve the situation which has been variously referred to as “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world”, “a slow burning genocide”, “a gross violation of human rights” among other terms. But to date not a single UN soldier has been deployed to the ground to prevent the killings, nor will they. Despite its fine words and diplomacy in the assembly halls of the UN and elsewhere, the international community simply does not rate the lives of Darfur’s sufferers.
Once again the job has fallen to the aid community to help the people at the eye of the storm. But growing concern over the level of violence directed at aid workers - from both government-supported militias and rebel ranks - is forcing them to ship out, leaving this already devastated community further exposed and at risk. Between June and September, 13 NGO staff members were killed in attacks on vehicle convoys in Darfur.
Most recently attacks on relief staff have included rapes, vicious sexual assaults and savagely beatings. As a result, NGOs are withdrawing staff from permanent postings servicing refugee camps in some of the more remote areas. Thirteen United Nations agencies said last week in a statement that in the face of growing danger, they had been reduced to "holding the line" in Darfur, adding that recent deadly cholera outbreaks reflected deteriorating hygiene conditions in understaffed camps.
Last month GOAL was reluctantly forced to evacuate international staff (GOALies) from the scene after three years of work, leaving local staff to run the programme providing humanitarian relief to 150,000 war victims. While GOALies have since returned to El-Fasher, in Sudan’s North Darfur State, the precarious security situation means their continued presence cannot be guaranteed.
Ultimately while the aid community can do a superb job, they remain helpless in the face of violence and genocide, when only an army of peace enforcers can quell the anarchy, protect innocent civilians and keep the aid channels open. Sadly in Darfur, the aid community had to act as both, setting us up for an unmitigated disaster. It is innocent civilians who bear the brunt of this.
It is disappointing too for rank and file Irish people, who have done so much for Darfur. With their support, GOAL was able to spend millions there saving many lives and bringing comfort to those in dire need. They must now feel helpless looking on and considering the future for these hapless victims.
What of the UN? It is of course an appalling vista that the UN, established in the wake of World War 2 to defend the rights of nations and individuals, has deteriorated to such a stage that it is now powerless to intervene to save life which surely is the most basic of all human rights. Having passed some 13 resolutions on Darfur, the UN has clearly failed. We cling to the notion of state sovereignty but, when a country is brutalising its own people, the UN must surely put the sovereignty of the human life first?
Indeed the UN’s failure to send in troops makes a mockery of their “Responsibility to Protect” commitment signed by leaders over a year ago. It agreed that state sovereignty could not be used to justify atrocities—or to bar collective international action to protect those citizens. Where “national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity,” the UN Security Council could put a Chapter VII military force on the table, the treaty reads.
What is the message that the Darfur tragedy sends out? A very clear and salutary one: in times of need, the vulnerable cannot rely on assistance from the international community, especially when oil and money are at stake.
It is with resigned indignation that I will not be able to return to Kutum in Darfur (the eye of the storm) – I have not got the stomach for looking into the eyes of a woman who has lost her family to the Janjaweed death squads, and having to tell her that the world has turned its back on her plight. Her and her children is on their own.
We need to reconsider the term “human race”, because in many ways it has
become an inhuman race.
John O’Shea is CEO of GOAL which was last month forced to evacuate GOALies from Darfur due to an escalation of violence. GOAL has since returned to El-Fasher, in Sudan’s NorthDarfurState, and continues to run programmes in the region.
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