Sudan scuffle not news: genocide is!
Africa Action
– Contact: Ann-Louise Colgan (202) 546-7961, [email protected]
U.S. Maintains Minimum Response on Darfur;
Secretary of State’s first official visit to Africa “Lackluster and Abrupt”
Thursday, July 21, 2005 (Washington, DC) – Africa Action today expressed
outrage at the misplaced priorities of U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice during her first visit to Sudan. This morning’s fracas
between Sudanese security officers and Rice’s entourage has generated
greater attention and indignation from U.S. officials and international
media than has the ongoing genocide in that country that has claimed
more than 400,000 lives in the past two years. According to Africa
Action, Dr. Rice’s visit to Sudan should be assessed in the context of
three competing U.S. foreign policy priorities – (1) support for the
newly formed government of national unity as part of the North-South
peace process, (2) ending the genocide in Darfur, and (3) collaboration
and intelligence-sharing with the Sudanese government as part of the
so-called ‘War on Terror’.
Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action, said, “Dr. Rice’s
juggling of these three U.S. interests reveals that, for Washington,
stopping genocide is the least important issue, promoting the
North-South peace process ranks higher, while the most important, but
least discussed, U.S. priority in Sudan is collaboration with the
genocidal regime for larger geo-strategic purposes.”
Nearly one year ago, the Bush Administration first declared that the
international crime of genocide was occurring in Darfur and that the
Sudanese government was responsible. Since that time, the U.S. has
sponsored weak resolutions at the United Nations, criticizing Khartoum
while imposing no sanctions, and has provided humanitarian aid and
limited logistical support for an African observer mission.
Ann-Louise Colgan, Director of Policy Analysis and Communications at
Africa Action said today, “The U.S. persists in passing the buck to the
African Union (AU) in Darfur, even as Dr. Rice expresses frustration at
the slow pace of the AU’s expansion of its mission. Instead of dodging
its own responsibility to help stop the genocide, the U.S. should
prioritize the urgent needs of the people of Darfur. The U.S. must take
immediate action to form a multinational intervention force to expand
upon the limited AU effort and with a mandate for civilian protection.”
Marie Clarke Brill, Director of Public Education and Mobilization at
Africa Action, said today, “Dr. Rice is the most senior U.S. official to
travel to Darfur since her predecessor Colin Powell visited Darfur last
summer. Like Powell, Dr. Rice exhibits the same dangerous naivete in
relying upon the authors of genocide to protect their own victims. Her
visit will make no difference on the ground. As Dr. Rice calls for
‘action not words’ from the Sudanese government on Darfur, the U.S. is
failing to match its own words with urgent action to stop the genocide
in western Sudan.”
As Secretary Rice concludes her first official trip to Africa, which
included a hurried stop in Senegal, Africa Action’s Booker said, “The
Secretary of State visited every region of the world in her first months
in office, and Africa came last. Not only that, Dr. Rice is cutting
short her first trip to the continent as America’s foreign policy chief
to travel onward to Israel and the West Bank. This sends a clear signal
that the Middle East is more important in her eyes, and Africa – the
land of her own ancestors – is at the very bottom of the U.S. foreign
policy agenda.”