Africa Action stands with African voices calling for UN forces

As the crisis in Darfur continues to deepen, Africa Action stands with
the people of Darfur and with African leaders from across the continent
who are calling for an international peacekeeping force that can stop
the violence and protect civilians in western Sudan.

In recent weeks, reports have confirmed a sharp deterioration in the
security situation on the ground in Darfur, and international
discussions at the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU) and
elsewhere have focused on how to protect civilians from the worsening
violence. While the AU continues to provide a measure of security in
some parts of Darfur, and while it has extended the mandate of its
mission until December 31, the need for a more robust international
intervention in Darfur is clear. In a significant step, the UN Security
Council authorized such a peacekeeping force in Resolution 1706, passed
at the end of August.

With the implementation of Resolution 1706 now stalled in the face of
Khartoum’s opposition, African voices have emerged prominently in the
discourse on Darfur, asserting the need and the obligation for new
international action on this crisis. Leadership figures from across the
continent have spoken out powerfully in the past several weeks,
questioning the failure of the world community to act more quickly and
assertively to save lives in Darfur. They have injected moral clarity
into the debate and affirmed the legitimacy of the United Nations and
its member states to pursue the action necessary to stop the genocide in
Darfur.

Africa Action continues to elevate Darfuri voices in the U.S. discourse
on this crisis, and works with Darfuri organizations across the U.S.,
calling for an urgent international intervention that can provide
protection and security to the people of Darfur. Fatima Haroun of the
Sudan Peace Advocates Network joined Africa Action’s rally outside the
White House on September 9, 2006, and repeated her longstanding call for
a United Nations peacekeeping force for Darfur. She emphasized, “The
people of Darfur have suffered more than enough already, and the
situation is getting worse. It is time for international action to stop
the violence and bring relief and peace to this region.”

The following week, on September 14, 2006, Archbishop Desmond Tutu
emphasized, “The world can’t keep saying ‘Never again’.” He chastised
the international community for its slow response to the Darfur crisis,
saying in a BBC interview, “The harsh truth is that some lives are
slightly more important than others… If you are swarthy, of a darker
hue, almost always you are going to end up at the bottom of the pile.”
Archbishop Tutu asserted that the international community should make
clear to the Sudanese government that it must accept UN peacekeepers or
face serious consequences.

At an Arria-style meeting of the UN Security Council on September 14,
2006, H.E. Nana Effah-Apenteng, Ambassador of Ghana to the United
Nations, invoked Article 4 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union,
which asserts the right to intervene in a member state in cases where
crimes against humanity are taking place. He expressed his concern about
the urgency of the situation in Darfur, and asserted that the
international community could not allow Khartoum to delay action
endlessly, but must move forward to protect the people of Darfur.

One day later, First Vice President in the Government of National Unity
in Khartoum, Salva Kiir, offered his support for an international
peacekeeping mission in Darfur, stating, “The aggravation of the
humanitarian and security situation in Darfur necessitates intervention
of international forces to protect civilians from the atrocities of the
Janjaweed militias so long as the government is not capable of
protecting them.”

On September 17, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters, “I have
urged the Security Council to act…without delay, and to be united as
possible in the face of the crisis.” He added, “It is urgent to act now.
Civilians are still being attacked and fleeing their villages as we speak.”

Africa’s first woman president, Liberian President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf, addressed the General Assembly the following week on
September 19, saying, “The world must not allow a second Rwanda to
happen.” She added, “My government therefore calls on this General
Assembly and the Security Council to exercise the Chapter VII authority
to restore peace, security and stability to Darfur.”

The following day, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka was quoted in the South
African newspaper Business Day challenging the legitimacy of Khartoum’s
opposition to a UN force for Darfur, saying, “When a deviant branch of
that family of nations flouts, indeed revels in the abandonment of, the
most basic norms of human decency, is there really justification in
evoking the excuse that protocol requires the permission [for UN
deployment of force] of that same arrogant and defiant entity?”

These and other statements from African leaders in the past month have
shaped the debate on the necessary next steps to stop the genocide in
Darfur. They join the chorus of voices from within and outside the
continent urging an international intervention that can protect the
people of Darfur.

Africa Action values the leadership role that the African Union has
played and continues to play in Darfur. Africa Action also respects the
AU’s numerous requests for a transition to a larger UN peacekeeping
force. Such a transition is consistent with the international
“Responsibility to Protect” doctrine, and it is the necessary and
appropriate response to this crime against humanity.

Africa Action urges the U.S. and other members of the Security Council
to support African leadership on Darfur by implementing Resolution 1706
and deploying an international peacekeeping mission to reinforce the AU
and provide effective protection to the people of Darfur. As the
situation in Darfur deteriorates still further, the international
community must act now. The Security Council must take every step
necessary to overcome remaining obstacles and to achieve this
deployment, before countless more lives are lost in Darfur.