| The Irish Times, Wed, Sep 01, 04
The suffering in Darfur is an appalling indictment of the international
community, writes John O'Shea.
Two million hapless inhabitants of strife-torn Darfur will learn
tomorrow if the international community cares whether or not they
live or die.
Those important individuals, comprising the Security Council of
the United Nations, will shortly sit in judgment on the performance
of the Khartoum government - and deliver their verdict. It will
be a critical moment in the lives of the persecuted population of
this arid region.
It is crunch time also for the United Nations. Either it can re-establish
itself as the rightful protector of the poor and the vulnerable
- or else it turns its back on them.
The 30-day deadline which was extended to the Sudanese government
to disarm the Janjaweed militia in Darfur has expired without any
meaningful response from Khartoum, and now the Security Council
must decide what action it will take.
How will the UN deal with the "two fingers" message that
it has been sent by Sudan's lack of compliance? The stark decision
before the Security Council is either to protect the displaced people
of Darfur - or abandon them to their fate.
If it goes for the latter option then it may as well shut up shop
as a peace-keeping organisation that concerns itself with protecting
and promoting the concept of universal human rights. It will have
failed miserably to do its duty.
It is an appalling indictment of the international community that
the people of Darfur have been allowed to suffer so terribly and
for so long. The UN cannot say it was taken by surprise by this
crisis. The first warning signals began to emerge from the region
over a year ago - and it has taken much effort to get the tragedy
on to the international agenda at all.
A month ago the UN Security Council made it clear to President
Bashir and his regime in Khartoum that unless they disarmed the
Janjaweed and stopped the killing they would face "tough measures".
The Sudanese government was not impressed. Khartoum has treated
the UN and its threat with contempt and has patently not complied
with any of the directives.
The Janjaweed are as active as ever. Indeed some of them have been
incorporated into the Sudanese police force. The highly respected
human rights organisation Human Rights Watch reckons that the Janjaweed
have at least 16 camps in the western region of Darfur and that
they operate with the full knowledge and open support of the Sudanese
authorities.
Neither is it just their proxy force that is still active in Darfur.
The government too has continued the bombing of civilians in some
areas. The burning of villages is less common now but that is due
mainly to the fact that there are fewer villages left to attack.
The scorched earth policy has been frighteningly successful.
The UN has not said what their "tough measures" will
consist of - but the fear is that they will do little or nothing.
That will send out a message to every dictator in every tyrannical
regime in the world that they can behave however they like. Genocide,
ethnic cleansing and all manner of crimes against humanity will
go unpunished. Not only will the Khartoum government have carte
blanche but so will every other dictatorship in the world.
The UN can count on much goodwill being shown should it find the
courage to raise a peacekeeping unit for Darfur. Britain, Australia,
New Zealand and Ireland have all said that they would consider sending
troops for such an expedition - and no doubt other nations will
oblige if asked.
Many African countries have said that they would be willing to
contribute troops to an African Union force.
It would at first glance seem like the ideal solution for African
troops to police what is an African problem - but any such force
would need considerable and sustained logistical and financial support
from the international community. Another consideration is that
there would be doubts about whether any African peacekeeping army
could be truly impartial.
Ultimately the organisation whose job it is to protect people under
threat is the United Nations. African countries can make up part
of a UN force - but they are too close to the situation to be relied
upon to carry out this mission successfully.
Above all, the UN must inject some urgency into its response. The
Security Council must recognise the fact that Khartoum has not responded
to its threat and has carried on with its campaign of terror in
Darfur. Whether this is genocide, ethnic cleansing or crimes against
humanity is beside the point at this stage. The most important issue
surely is to get a protection force into Darfur without delay.
The Sudanese have said they will treat any such intervention as
an invasion but they cannot be allowed to call the shots any longer.
They have either killed, or sponsored the Janjaweed to kill on their
behalf, 50,000 of their own citizens. So far they have done this
with impunity.
Immediately the UN should impose the most severe sanctions at its
disposal, including an arms embargo, and direct sanctions against
the individuals who are directing the genocide. At the end of the
day one suspects the Khartoum governments may not be influenced
by any sanction, bar the ultimate one - the invasion of its territory
by a foreign army. And with two million lives hanging in the balance,
the UN has sound reason for taking this course of action.
For the sake of the most vulnerable people on the planet, let's
hope that the UN will deliver to the Khartoum government its strongest
message to date, that there is still a semblance of caring and love
for their fellow human beings at the top table of this much-maligned
organisation.
Meanwhile, GOAL must continue to provide food, shelter and medical
attention and above all - protection for the vulnerable.
• John O'Shea is the founder and chief executive of GOAL,
which has been working in Sudan since 1985 and in Darfur since January.
|
