Darfurther Nonsense II
I don’t want to say that there are more opinions on Darfur than there are Darfurians (because that would be cruel), but it’s close.
UN Sudan envoy Jan Pronk says the existing African Union force should instead be strengthened.
Sudan has always argued that the AU should remain in charge of peacekeeping in Darfur, rather than the UN.
There is still a chance to protect Darfur’s civilians from a further round of violence, hunger and displacement, but only if government and rebels resume peace negotiations. This means stepping back from rhetorical confrontation and empty threats of military action. Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir knows that US and British saber-rattling is moralistic hyperventilation, and he has called their bluff. Finding a solution hinges on a sober assessment of what is practical, not on making Darfur a guinea pig for “the duty to protect” or a test case for a new global moral consciousness.
On Darfur, Mr. Annan is certainly one of the most outspoken leaders on the international scene. Two weeks ago, in an address to the Security Council, he delivered what by diplomatic standards amounted to a stinging rebuke of the Sudanese regime. Warning that “the tragedy in Darfur has reached a critical moment,” he noted Khartoum’s deployment of thousands of troops to the area, “in clear violation of the Darfur Peace Agreement.” What sort of crimes they are liable to commit is, regrettably, no longer any mystery.
Too often in the past, UN and other international officials refrained from pointing the finger of blame squarely at the killers in Khartoum. But Mr. Annan seems to have acquired renewed moral courage. “We all know that the Government of Sudan still refuses to accept the transition” to UN peacekeepers, he said. “The consequences of the Government’s current attitude—yet more death and suffering, perhaps on a catastrophic scale—will be felt first and foremost by the people of Darfur.”
Until there is a major policy shift by the powers preventing effective action—the Sudanese government, their Arab League allies, the Chinese veto—things in Darfur are likely to get worse, not better.
I tend toward the third option, but I don’t pretend it’s going to do any good…or bad…or anything at all.