Beyond Baby Steps for Darfur Posted by Sam Bell

Almost two years ago, July 2004, Congress unanimously declared the crisis in Darfur a genocide. It’s the first time that Congress or the Executive has described an ongoing crisis in this way. As Darfur deteriorates, the characterization as “genocide” has gained widespread acceptance. Unfortunately, saying “genocide in Darfur” has yet to prompt leadership from the American government to protect civilians in Darfur. Instead of improving, the crisis in Darfur has spread to neighboring Chad and American leadership to fight genocide has translated into giving more humanitarian aid than any other nation.

Studying the American failure to stop genocide in the 20^th century, Samantha Power found that “it is in the realm of domestic politics that the battle to stop genocide is lost…[policymakers] reason that they will incur no costs if the United States remains uninvolved but will face steep risks if they engage.” This statement remains true about our efforts to stop genocide today. Despite its courageous declaration two summers ago, neither Congress nor the Executive has been willing to risk any political to support protection for civilians in Darfur. In fact, it’s been like pulling teeth to persuade Congress to maintain the meager status quo.

The United States and its international partners have neither offered a credible threat to compel the Government of Sudan to disarm the Janjaweed militias and stop aerial attacks nor have they deployed a robust force to protect civilians. On Monday, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. will push for as many as 500 NATO advisers to be sent to Darfur. A NATO presence in Darfur raises the possibility of arrests of war criminals and should scare some of the perpetrators.  However, the U.S. is publicly opposed to including the architects of the crisis - senior Sudanese officials - on the list of targets for international action.

While 500 advisers will improve coordination of the African force currently deployed, tens of thousands more troops with increased firepower and an expanded mandate are needed to actually protect Darfurians.

 
This cannot happen in one fell swoop. The first step is to fortify the existing African Union troops in Sudan who, in addition to the shortfalls mentioned above, have serious trouble gathering intelligence and communicating with each other. Even those who are hoping for a more powerful force (most everyone following Darfur) should support investment in the African troops who will serve as the backbone of any future military ground operation.

In March, the House passed an amendment to increase funding for the African forces by $50 million. This will improve capacity…but is a mere baby step towards protecting Darfurians. And, it only passed by 5 votes (213-208)! The Majority Leader (John Boehner), Chairman of the Appropriations Committee (Jerry Lewis), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations (Jim Kolbe) and Chairman of the Human Rights Caucus (Frank Wolf) voted against the amendment. If House leadership and our strongest allies will vote against a $50 million amendment to take incremental steps towards protecting Darfurians, we have a long way to go before America can lead the fight against the genocide taking place in Darfur.   

 

Full funding for a protection force should be just the beginning of Congressional activism to save lives in Sudan. Follow-up actions include:

• Investigating the growing U.S. counter-terrorism relationship with Khartoum and its effect on U.S. efforts to end genocide in Darfur.
• Offering funds for the economic development of the Darfur region contingent on a political settlement
• Threatening to cut support for African and Middle Eastern governments that block the deployment of a more robust force in Darfur.
• Authorizing the President to enforce a no-fly zone over Darfur and utilize unmanned vehicles to neutralize Janjaweed militias and Sudanese aircraft.

 
Without a domestic constituency pushing their elected officials and the debate, we will move too slowly to end genocide.

Comments

[July Canute]

Like Iraq what is happening in Darfur is a holocaust. The United States is up to its eyeballs in blood and we have blood on our hands.

Neo-cons in Bush's inner circle have rounded up Arabs and locked them away at Gitmo without due process and tortured them.

If they come for Arabs and nobody speaks out who might they come for next? How can we allow a holocaust to happen in Darfur and other places such as Sulu, Patikul while we commit one against Arabs and allow a continual one against Palestinians.

Why haven't these holocausts and the rounding up of people without due process triggered a response from those who tell us we must remember the Nazis so it never happens again?

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