Talk but no action in Darfur

By Opiyo Oloya, The New Vision

KAMPALA, Sep 29, 2004 — Listening to the saber-rattling emanating from western countries that are angry about the humanitarian crisis in the western Sudan region of Darfur, one would conclude that strong international action is about to be carried out on behalf of the more than one million displaced Sudanese refugees.

Help-is-on-the-way would be the way to characterise the high-level focus on the crisis. However, in international politics, where the lives of Africans are at stake, appearance can be very deceptive.
It is true that the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Darfur in Sudan has provoked some of the strongest world reactions since Rwanda occurred 10 years ago.

The US House of Representatives in July adopted unanimously by 422 votes and 12 abstentions the resolution that called on the Bush administration to call the atrocities in Darfur “by its rightful name: ‘genocide’.”

Three weeks ago, on September 9, US Secretary of State Colin Powell obliged in an address to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He told the gathering that, “We concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility and genocide may still be occurring.” Powell even mused aloud that when push comes to shove, the US might decide to go it alone and intervene in Darfur.

Not to be outdone, the UN Security Council last week adopted Resolution 1564, which supported AU initiatives as well as threatened sanctions should the Sudanese government continue to drag its heels in resolving the Darfur crisis.

The toughly worded resolution put a shot-gun to the head of the Sudanese government by saying that the UN “shall consider taking additional measures as contemplated in Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations, such as actions to affect Sudan’s petroleum sector and the Government of Sudan or individual members of the Government of Sudan.” In other words, the UN was saying, do as we say or else suffer the consequences.

And just last Wednesday, Canada’s Prime Minister Paul Martin in an address to United Nations’ General Assembly called on world leaders to stop dithering and do something about Darfur because as he put it, “The time has come for us to act.” Indeed, for two hours this past Sunday, Canadians from coast-to-coast debated the crisis in Darfur in a live phone-in radio show called Cross-Country Check-Up. Most the callers wanted the Janjaweed brought to justice, and none more strongly than retired General Romeo Dallaire who served as a peacekeeper in Rwanda in 1994.

Yet for all the public posturing, the reality is stacked against those dying in Darfur. There are several factors which do not favour any intervention from the world’s superpowers. Foremost, in the eyes of the west, Darfur offers no strategic value worthy sending troops to die for. No doubt the planners at the Pentagon have already asked the question, “What is it in for us?” The sad answer which may come like a shock to many Africans is that like Somalia in 1993, Western Sudan offers no economic returns for any western country planning to take the Janjaweed on. Darfur is not Iraq where the pay-out for intervention was millions of barrel of clean oil for the members of the coalition.

Secondly, despite the bravado, the Bush administration no longer has the belly for a new fight while the Iraq war takes American lives daily. To date, 1048 Americans have lost their lives since the war began in March 2003, as many as 910 since the war was declared over.

Thirdly, the reason is that the Bush administration is making a lot of noise about Sudan precisely because America is bleeding in Iraq. The idea here is a desperate attempt to change the topic during the last few weeks of presidential campaign in order to get voters to stop fretting about Iraq. In other words, Darfur is the perfect way out for Bush to get America to talk about something else other than the most important war taking place in Iraq. Mark this down in a notebook somewhere-after Bush is re-elected in November, Darfur will drop off the radar like a sack of rotten potato.

What’s even sadder is that Canada is talking about Darfur for the same self-centered reason as the US. In Canada, there is currently a minority government that could teeter to the brink of collapse at any time. Prime Minister Paul Martin obviously wants to project himself as a strong global leader with the moral gumption to take on the evil Janjaweed militias in Sudan.

However, when he stood tall at the United Nations’ General Assembly last week, he was really trying to project himself to the Canadian people rather to help the poor people of Darfur.

The bottom line is that Darfur will continue to burn everyday as thousands of refugees wither away in the heat waiting for the white knights to deliver them.