Darfur peace should be taken first
By Kamal al-Sadiq , Al-Ayyam
March 19, 2007 — Four courses are today being taken and are heading towards confrontation with the government and nobody knows how exactly this international escalation will end after the British PM Tony Blair introduced the words “war on terrorism” for the first time when describing the crisis in Darfur.
The first course that is advancing fast is that of the International Criminal Court in The Hague after it named two suspects for committing war crimes in Darfur. The court is expected to decide to issue warrants for the accused at the end of this month.
The second course is the Human Rights Council in Geneva where the first report presented to it indicated that the government participated and coordinated the crimes committed in the region in a direct way. So far the balance is tipped in favour of the report despite the opposition expressed by Islamic and Arab countries.
The third course that is expected to escalate quickly is the announcement by an American court that the government is implicated in the bombing of the USS Cole which resulted in the death of 17 US citizens in the Gulf of Aden seven years ago. The victims’ families are demanding 150m dollars in compensation.
The fourth course which is also expected to escalate this week is a British draft resolution, supported by the EU and US, to punish the government for refusing the deployment of a joint force in Darfur according to the Addis Ababa agreement. Meanwhile, other states including Egypt are exerting efforts to avoid this although it is hard to predict what the big nations will achieve.
In addition to these main courses being taken there is also the individual US course that is heading towards implementing new financial sanctions against Sudan. This was announced by the US envoy Andrew Natsios during his meeting with NGO officials last week.
Despite their diversity and the fact that they overlap, these courses seem to be aimed at ending the problem of Darfur. However, what can be taken against them is that there is an element missing among this entire hullabaloo. The peace that these international forces are coming to protect is what is noticeably missing at present in the region. This is the forgotten fifth course which should have been at the forefront. When will this important course take priority and come back into focus? If we really want lasting peace, security and stability for the citizens in the region this is the course that should be taken first.