US Darfur Association says Libya is not neutral venue for peace talks

October 23, 2007 — The Darfur Association in the United States of America sincerely appreciates the efforts and contributions made to the current date by the many right-minded countries, heads of State, organizations and institutions to bring an end to the ongoing genocide in Darfur, and to find a just and sustainable political solution to the conflict in Darfur, as well as to bring the guilty parties to justice. However, still much continuing effort is needed to completely bring an end to the killing and dry the tears of the hundreds of thousands of women and children who continue to suffer disease, starvation and death in the refuge camps.

The continuing conflict and unrest in the Darfur region is a reflection of a certain political reality in the entire Sudan to end years of undemocratic governance, rampant repression of human rights, blatant discrimination and injustice. Since 2003, when militant groups took up arms, the government of Sudan and its allied Janjaweed militias began waging fierce war against the innocent civilians raping, torturing and killing peaceful inhabitants of Darfur as well as burning villages to ashes and driving people from their homes. These violent actions have led to the killing of more than four hundred thousand citizens of Darfur, and the forced displacement of more than two million indigenous Darfurians from their homeland, causing untold suffering both inside and outside Sudan; still Khartoum persists in forcing this genocide on the displaced survivors in their own refugee camps – maiming, raping and killing the survivors openly before the eyes of the international community and human rights organizations in blatant disregard of the violation of all agreed-upon rules and laws and of human decency.

Even after passing and enacting numerous regulations, the United Nations Security Council has been unable to make any decisive or even significant progress in protecting these helpless civilians or to take any effective measures to prevent the Government of Sudan from raining its death and destruction upon the people of Darfur. Despite the early presence of African Union forces on the ground in Darfur, absolutely no definitive action toward procuring the safety and protection of these innocent civilians was taken or effectuated, but, rather, the three top officials of the AU – Salim Ahmed Salim, Nour Eldin El Mazni, and Alpha Omar Konare – had been working tirelessly to support the policies of the Sudan Government to force crippling so-called agreements down the throats of the Darfur people to essentially sweep the Darfurian situation under the carpet, and further tacitly and covertly to support the overall objective of the annihilation of the indigenous Darfurian people and the illegal appropriation of their lands by vicious force of the armed Janjaweed insurgents. When these attempts apparently failed to bear fruit, these men simply combined efforts with the Libyan commissioner to the AU, Mr. Ali El Takiri, as well as the Egyptian representative to the AU, to attempt the same scenario of Abuja in Libya.

Although the Darfur Association in the United States is firmly committed to finding a just, sustainable and neutral venue within which to resolve the ever-worsening conflict in Darfur and stand firmly duty-bound to bring an honorable peace to Darfurians, this organization is still vehemently against any notion of attempting to push mediation through a mediator that is at obvious cross-purposes with the plight of the Darfur people. Because it seems clear that the Libyan-led negotiation cannot and will not end the monopoly of state power and national wealth in the Sudan, nor will it further the Darfurians’ aspirations for freedom, dignity and human rights, it would be a sham to proceed with any negotiations that are merely conducted under the auspices of a regional collaborator. Such a “mediation” is not interested in effecting real, positive and genuine change in the region, but more a cosmetic appearance of efforts for change, enhancing the objectives and positions of a few to the detriment of an entire race of people. By all objective standards, Tripoli is not and will not be a suitable and neutral venue to resolve this ever-increasing and worsening conflict in Darfur.

It is not a secret that the Libyan government has been working diligently to expand the Arab-belt in sub-Saharan Africa and to change the demography of the entire region, and most especially in Darfur, and to empty this region of its native African tribes, which said policy continues in full expanse to this date. To this end, the Libyan government has been actively supporting the so-called African congregation in Sudan and its militant armed Janjaweed faction, whether through military training and armament, or through the financial support necessary to enable them to carry out their murderous and terrorist activities against the indigenous people of the regions. It cannot be said or imagined by right-minded people that the Janjaweed are merely a by-product of the present Darfur conflict, but, to be sure, exist primarily and directly to further the success of this intentional demographic upheaval in this region.

These aforementioned self-serving encroachments into the perceived mediation process by the Libyan government are an insult to intelligent men, and belie and undermine any notion that Tripoli’s outwardly professed aim is to help achieve any real and genuine protection of the just and inalienable rights of the people of Darfur or that effectuating a meaningful and positive political change in the region are central to its interest. Rather the actions and true motives of the Libyan-led intrusion into the so-called mediation process by the AU, and certainly its rejection of all UN Security Council resolutions to protect citizens, and its blatant conflict of interest, discredit and disqualify that government from any ruse or pretense of neutrality and therefore any viable role in a truly positive and success-oriented mediation process.

The Darfur Association in the United States rejects outright the notion of conducting any negotiations or mediation in Tripoli, simply because that government cannot be at the same time constructors of peace and destructors of stability in the Darfur region. Any viable potential mediator, to be truly effective and expect any reasonable positive impact on the solution to the grim situation now existing there, MUST present a healthy and realistic high respect for democratic governance, human rights, equality, fairness and justice, and the overarching moral ‘rightness’ of a truly humane resolution of this crisis, in all of its aspects, and present a lasting and sustainable plan for the future. The United Nations, upon being presented with the entire Darfurian negotiation and mediation file, must ensure and underwrite a process whereby realistic peace and stability can be achieved and maintained in the Darfur region, putting an end once and for all to the killing, raping and torturing of the citizenry there, and guaranteeing the Darfurian people absolute protection and safety from indiscriminate displacement and repression, in their homes, lands and territories, while maintaining the integrity of international law and local cultures and customs.

It appears to us that conducting any negotiations in Libya is merely an evasion and stalling tactic to gain time and set up political and diplomatic roadblocks prior to the implementation of any UN Security Council resolutions. Consequently, in the spirit of developing transparent, trustworthy and legitimate negotiations for the establishment of a permanent and lasting peace and settlement of all disputes and grievances in the Darfur region, and in further order to sustain the popular support of the Darfurian people which is crucial to any meaningful peace in the region, we, The Darfur Association in the United States of America, propose the following as logical and legitimate demands for consideration:

Any State desiring to sponsor the negotiations referred to herein MUST encourage, demand and strongly support an initial implementation of all UN Security Council resolutions pertaining to the current situation in Darfur PRIOR TO negotiations getting underway;
Such proposed Sponsor must not have any direct, indirect or perceived interest or benefit in the Darfur region, and must not have exhibited any attitudinal problem regarding the crisis at any time in the past;
It is imperative that a non-negotiable demand for the removal from all Darfur region lands of so-called “newcomers”, the squatters who have been allowed to take over lands and homes of murdered and displaced Darfurians, and that these lands be returned without compromise to the rightful owners and their survivors who have been forcefully removed or otherwise driven from their homelands by this barbaric takeover and displacement effort; and
An implementation of a resolution to place and deploy United Nations peacekeeping forces to oversee the above-envisioned and protect civilians and indigenous inhabitants, since overall peace and stability in this region is the primary goal and objective.
We sincerely thank you for your gracious consideration and urgently needed assistance in this critical matter.

Dr. Mahmoud Braima, President

Darfur Association in the USA