The Arab League is hurting Darfur
By Jimmy Mulla*
September 21, 2006 — The Arab League charter says the organization is a voluntary association of independent countries whose peoples are mainly Arabic speaking. The league’s stated purposes are to strengthen ties among these states, coordinate their policies, and promote their common interests. But when it comes to the Western Sudan region of Darfur, the Arab League uses its charter only to promote the interest of Sudan’s National Congress Party and its proxy militias.
The Darfur conflict is viewed by the Arab League as the conflict of an Arab member state verses a foreign entity within its borders. The league has all along sided with Sudan’s Arab-dominated government, against the Darfur people of African origin who speak Arabic (the same scenario as that of Southern Sudan). The Arab League is, by its preferential treatment of Khartoum, assisting in destruction of Darfur.
Since the latest conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region started in 2003, more than 300,000 people have died and over 2.5 million have been displaced. Although these staggering statistics are comparable to or higher than those affecting other Arab or Muslim people, the Arab League has been silent, or downplayed the seriousness of the situation.
Unlike other conflicts in the Middle East, major Arab media have not focused on the crisis in Darfur. Scenes of the human catastrophe never shows up on TV screens regularly, nor do reports on the conflict surface on major newspaper headlines, as has been the case with the recent war in Lebanon, the war in Iraq or other related conflicts in the Middle East. The Arab League continues to deny that any massacres have taken place in Darfur. It objects to any outside help for the people of Darfur under the pretext that the genocide taking place is an “internal” affair of an Arab country.
The Arab League continues to provide diplomatic cover and to deter or hamper progress being made by the international community to end the crisis. It has continued to support Khartoum’s diplomatic propaganda without questioning its merits. In 2004, the Arab League’s Commission of Inquiry produced a report condemning the human rights violations by pro-government militias in Darfur, but after protest from the government of Sudan, the league decided to sweep the findings under a rug.
Since the UN Security Council began to weigh options for a possible UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, diplomatic foul play was adopted as policy by the league. In March 2006, in the Khartoum summit, Arab leaders worked against a plan to transform the African Union (AU) Mission in Darfur into a United Nations protection force with a mandate to protect civilians. Instead, the league came up with a plan for extending the AU mission that was not feasible at the time.
Earlier this month, a resolution passed by the Arab League’s Council of Foreign Ministers called for the UN Security Council to give the Sudanese government more time to implement its “plan to improve conditions and preserve security” in Darfur. Now, with the UN set to send peacekeeping forces to Darfur under Resolution 1706, the Arab League is engaged in behind-the-scenes witch hunting efforts.
According to the Arab League psyche – that of Arab/Islamist domination – although the people in Darfur are Arab-speaking, and living in Sudan – an Arab country — the fact that they are of African origin disqualifies them from any consideration under the charter. As it wrestles with ways to implement resolution 1706, the international community should be aware of the bias against black, African Arab-speaking people by the Arab League. The Arab League views the people of Darfur not as victims of Khartoum’s genocide, but as foreigners with no right to their own land. This bigotry is a tremendous obstacle in the path of implementing Resolution 1706. It is killing Darfur.
* The author is the President of Southern Sudanese Voice for Freedom, and Advocacy group in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at [email protected]