US Gen. Gration takes over as Sudan envoy
March 19, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – President Barack Obama today appointed retired Air Force General J. Scott Gration as the US Special Envoy for Sudan, fulfilling one of the campaign promises he had made to address the situation in Darfur.
The US president said that Sudan “cries out for peace and for justice,” remarking also the urgency of the worsening humanitarian situation.
Gration (pronounced GRAY-shun) received a cordial welcome message from Sudan’s ambassador in New York, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad. But the new envoy immediately will face the Sudan government’s diplomatic efforts to suspend the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Al-Bashir by lobbying the UN Security Council, a step the US opposes. He will also now be at the forefront of the US administration’s thus far unsuccessful effort to get Sudan to reverse its decision to expel 16 aid groups working in Darfur.
The new envoy succeeds three special envoys who served under President Bush. He was raised in the Congo and speaks fluent Swahili. He served in the US Air Force from 1974 to 2006.
Robert Wood, spokesman of the US State Department, said today “if indeed there are further deaths that take place in Darfur, there will be only one person responsible for those deaths, and that will be President Bashir.”
He said “we plan to continue to push that line because what President Bashir is doing is just creating a much, much worse situation on the ground, and he needs to be held accountable for that.”
In a message meant for the new US envoy, the chairman of the Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdel Wahid Al-Nur said that he calls on Gration to work for ensuring the security of civilians in Darfur and to create a conducive environment for peace in Darfur.
Activists in the United States praised the choice of Gration. “His experience, gravitas and close relationship with President Obama will contribute greatly to his effectiveness. It remains to be seen if he will have the mandate and authority to drive U.S. policy on Sudan,” said Save Darfur Coalition Executive Director Jerry Fowler in an e-mail message.
Omer Ismail, a policy advisor from the Darfur region, said “now we have an envoy to implement the policy of the Obama administration in Sudan. Since we have a team that is working on the review of that policy for a long time now, and some of the outlook of that policy is now beginning to take shape, we need an envoy to implement that policy.”
Ismail, who works for the Enough Project, a US-based think-tank and advocacy organization, disagreed with a report yesterday by The New York Times that had said “the administration appeared to be locked in a struggle over who would take charge of the issue and how it should be approached.” He viewed the appointment instead as an indication that the policy review is close to completion.
Though today the State Department spokesman declined to tell press who is leading the interagency review, the key figures include White House advisors Samantha Power and Michelle Gavin.
Gration, a decorated general, flew 274 combat missions over Iraq during the first Persian Gulf War. He held one of the highest ranking posts at the US European Command based in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany.
Ismail welcomed the appointment of an envoy with military standing: “We would like to have a military man who really will know what to do. Because it is not the time to negotiate with Bashir as much as tell him what we want to do. And who can do that better than a retired Air Force general? Because Bashir is a soldier, he understands that. This is a guy who can be at his eye level and basically tell him what needs to be done.”
The analyst also predicted that Al-Bashir will only dig a deeper hole for himself if he continues his moves against aid organizations.
Obama’s statement indicated likewise that the Government of Sudan “will be held accountable for the lives lost” in the void left by the ousted aid groups.
(ST)