Darfur is missed out in the “Joint Statement” of the Foreign Ministers of the Western Powers
By Mahmoud A. Suleiman
September 24, 2012 — The above title comes against the backdrop of the Joint Statement issued by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William Hague about the meeting to be held between the NCP regime’s president Omer al-Bashir and his counterpart President of the Republic of South Sudan in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday 23rd September 2012.
One acknowledges the importance of the upcoming meeting and its anticipated outcomes which many hope to be positive and binding to all parties and put an end to the unpalatable running saga. Moreover, one hopes also the meeting to be conducive to overcoming the chronic suffering of the brotherly people of the two Sudans. However, one wonders whether the leverage of the Western Powers will succeed in curbing the intransigence and the prevarication of the Sudan’ ruling NCP regime in Khartoum. The NCP regime is renowned for noncompliance with covenants and peace agreements signs with parties in the conflict.
The NCP establishment is responsible for igniting sedition and destroying the social fabric among the people of Sudan who have been living in harmony over the years for its doctrine of divide and rule. This is besides waging devastating wars that affects the civilians through killing, displacement, deprivation of basic necessities of life.
The “Joint Statement” has focused exclusively on the dire conditions of the people in the South Kordofan “the Nuba Mountains”, the Southern Blue Nile and of course the outstanding issues between the republic of South Sudan and Sudan from the perspective of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which to some analysts “not quite” comprehensive in its content and/or implementation.
The “Joint Statement” talked about the SPLM/A-N in respect to the 2011 Framework of Agreement-dubbed as ‘Nafie Agreement’ by some- signed by the SPLM/A-N and the NCP regime but abrogated by Omer al-Bashir to wage war instead exterminating considerable number of civilians and displacing the survivors into the middle of nowhere to shelter themselves in caves and live on leaves of wild trees as a result of the use of Sudanese government humanitarian Aid as a weapon for its never ending devastating genocidal wars.
While the Sudanese people regret the secession of the southern part of the then greater motherland Sudan, they acknowledge the reasons led the brotherly compatriots to take that hard decision. They suffered racism, ethnic cleansing amounting to genocide at the hands of all the successive governments of Sudan since independence; similar to what continues happening in the issue of Darfur.
The “Joint Statement “referred to fails deliberately to address the central Sudanese, the Darfur Crisis, which has plagued the people and crippled the region from achieving sustainable peace, stability, rule of law and development ten years on. This atrocious war in the region continues in spite of the plethora of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions (17) passed on the Darfur Issue; some of which had been passed under the Chapter 7 of the United Nations (UN) Charter but remain without implementation. The reason for this is attributed partly to inaction and the major part is the role played by the vested interests of some Veto-waving UNSC founding members in the continuing viability of the NCP regime. The National Islamic Front (NIF) and its offshoots that consist of the infamous National Salvation Revolution (NSR) and the current NCP regime do not hesitate to offer royalties to their alleged enemies in order to stay in power even if those concessions are clearly against the false Islamic slogans based on hypocrisy they hail and chant, raising their voices.
And what hurts the Sudanese people more is the continuing call by some political circles in the international community on the Sudanese protestors not to aim for toppling the NCP regime but to be allowed to change from within itself. Those who hold that opinion have forgotten the phrases attributed to the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior that the “NCP is so deformed to be reformed.” Nevertheless, the Sudanese people have determined to liberate the country of the despotic NCP regime using all available means which include peaceful protests, Sit INS and armed protected demonstrations to oust the corrupt racist genocidal entity akin to what has happened to similar regimes in the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and now in Syria. The NCP regime today is at its weakest and the Sudanese people made up of youth organisations, women activists, trade unions, political parties, armed resistance (Sudan Revolutionary Front) and the patriotic members of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) are determined to work together to overthrow the regime and send the members of the clique implicated in the heinous crimes to the ICC for trial.
At this juncture, the people of Sudan in Darfur draw the attention of the international community represented by UN, EU, AU, league of Arabs Countries and the Association of Islamic Countries that the war in Darfur has not subsided and is contrary to the propaganda machine of the government of Sudan and its hirelings Aerial bombardments by Antonov airships and MiG 29 bombers of civilian targets, burning of villages and displacements continue while the World has forgotten the Darfur Issue. It is a time for reawakening the conscience of the World to impose a ‘No-Flight Zone on the Darfur Region.
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is the Deputy Chairman of the General Congress for Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). He can be reached at [email protected]