Darfur – It is not too late for Khartoum to draw back
Editorial, Arab News
26 September 2006 — IN any other circumstances, Sunday’s announcement by Sudan’s President Omar Bashir that a new integrated group consisting of police, army and security forces would be deployed to work alongside the African Union peacekeepers in Darfur would be most welcome. Unfortunately, the move is unlikely to convince the international community that it should abandon plans to intervene in the Darfur crisis.
Two arguments are likely to be deployed against this belated initiative. The first is that if the Khartoum government has so far been unable to curb the activities of the Janjaweed militias — which it originally armed and supported as a counter to rebel attacks — can it realistically expect to do better now? Additionally, there is the fact that with the Abuja peace accord still rejected by two Darfur rebel groups, the Sudanese government is currently mounting a new offensive against them. Who, in fact therefore, will the government forces be confronting? The rebels or the Janjaweed? And if both, looking at recent history, is the government capable of achieving success?
The mandate of the AU force has been extended to the end of the year and more money and support promised by the international community. Few observers believe, however, that its 7,000 personnel, spread over an area roughly the size of Western Europe, are going to be any more successful in stopping the chaos. The continued angry — though understandable — rejection by the Sudanese authorities of a UN peacekeeping force of 20,000 to take over from the AU is increasingly less tenable. Bashir has spoken scathingly of Washington’s role in mobilizing world opinion behind the UN intervention. The Americans nevertheless obtained Security Council Resolution 1706 mandating a UN force. China, Qatar and Russia abstained but did not block the move. Events have thus reached a crucial point which could have been avoided had Khartoum acted far earlier and with greater resolution.
Bashir probably did his government’s position no good at all on Sunday by seeking to play down the enormity of the destruction and bloodletting that has taken place. He defied the international community regarding evidence of the destruction of communities when pictures of burned and ruined villages had already been broadcast around the world. If, by singling out the Americans as the malign force behind an anti-Sudanese campaign, Bashir is hoping to cash in on the widespread contempt for Washington’s blundering failures in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan, he has miscalculated. Enough is realized worldwide about his government’s failure to act decisively in the face of monstrous human tragedy to take this issue beyond ignorant saber-rattling by the Bush White House.
Because Khartoum has consistently refused to come to grips with a problem in its own backyard, the international community has felt impelled to act. It may still not be too late to draw back and try to use the good offices of Moscow or Beijing to broker a less humiliating solution to the continuing tragedy.