Too many UN resolutions on Darfur too little action

By Mahmoud A. Suleiman

December 27, 2007 — The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had passed UN resolution after UN resolution but to no avail. The UNSC Resolutions include its previous resolutions concerning the situation in the Sudan, in particular resolutions 1679 (2006) of 16 May 2006, 1665 (2006) of 29 March 2006, 1663 (2006) of 24 March 2006, 1593 (2005) of 31 March 2005, 1591 (2005) of 29 March 2005, 1590 (2005) of 24 March 2005, 1574 (2004) of 19 November 2004, 1564 (2004) of 18 September 2004 and 1556 (2004) of 30 July 2004 and the statements of its President concerning the Sudan. This is in addition to its previous resolutions 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, 1502 (2003) on the protection of humanitarian and United Nations personnel, 1612 (2005) on children and armed conflict, and 1674 (2006) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, which reaffirms inter alia the provisions of paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 United Nations World Summit outcome document, as well as the report of its Mission to the Sudan and Chad from 4 to 10 June 2006. Of prime importance to recall the resolution 1556 on July 30, 2004, the United Nations Security Council adopted by a vote of 13 in favor, with China and Pakistan abstaining. The US-drafted resolution was co-sponsored by Britain, France, Germany, Chile, Spain and Romania. Acting under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, the Security Council expressed its intention “to consider further actions” if the Sudanese government fails to disarm and prosecute the Arab militias known as Janjaweed, who have forced black Africans off their land in the Darfur region of western Sudan through a campaign of killing, rape, and pillage. The resolution sets a 30-day deadline for Sudan to comply with the Security Council’s demands. The Security Council also adopted resolution 1706 (2006) by a vote of 12 in favor with 3 abstentions (China, Qatar, Russian Federation), the Council invited the consent of the Sudanese Government of National Unity for that deployment, and called on Member States to ensure an expeditious deployment of AU-UN Hybrid Peacekeeping Force in Darfur to protect the civilian population. It requested the Secretary-General to arrange the rapid deployment of additional capabilities to enable UNMIS to deploy in Darfur. Furthermore, the UNSC adopted Resolution 1769 on 31st July 2007 authorizing a joint UN-AU Peacekeeping Force of 26000 in Darfur. Government of Sudan (GOS) rejects non-African troops in Darfur. Earlier, UNSC adopted Resolution 1593 at its 5158th meeting, on 31 March 2005, with four abstentions from Algeria, Brazil, China and the United States of America for the situation in Sudan which constituted a threat to the International Peace and Security – acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. UNSC, accordingly decided reconfirm its Decision to refer the situation in Darfur since 1 July 2002 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has issued arrest warrants for a Sudanese minister and a militia leader suspected of war crimes in the Darfur region. The prosecutor was reported to have said that the government of Sudan (GOS) has a legal duty to arrest Ahmed Haroun and Ali Kushayb. Sudan immediately rejected the ICC submission. Justice Minister Ali Al-Mardhi said Sudan would not hand over any person for trial by the ICC because “the court has no jurisdiction to try any Sudanese national for alleged committed crimes”. Government of Sudan has said it is capable of trying alleged war criminals without any help from the ICC. GOS rejects the ICC’s jurisdiction over its nationals and says it will not allow anybody, including rebels, to be tried outside Sudan!

UN officials estimate over 400,000 people have lost their lives and some 2.5 million more have been driven from their homes living in IDP and refugee camps in the years of fighting between the Sudanese Government, allied militias and rebel forces. The mass media once described the conflict in Darfur as both “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide,” and now do so without hesitation. The United States government has described it as genocide, although the UN has declined to do so. In March 2007 the UN mission accused government of Sudan of orchestrating and taking part in “gross violations” in Darfur and called for urgent international action to protect civilians there.

The former United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Tony Blair was quoted by The Independent Newspaper on September the 17th 2006 to have said urging the EU unity on Darfur: “If Darfur is not to be another Rwanda, we must act, and now, to avert catastrophe”. The BBC reported that Mr. Blair has written to all the other members of the European Union calling for unity on Darfur and said the EU should play a “central role” in peace efforts and that the Sudanese government should prepare to face isolation if it failed to respond to diplomatic pressure to end the “slaughter”. That proved to be a political rhetoric and the rest is history. Shadow International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, said “the Sudanese Government has accepted a UN force in the South; there is no good reason of principle why it should not do so in Darfur”. Mr. Mitchell added “The International Community is itself on trial. The much-vaunted responsibility to protect so enthusiastically embraced last year by world leaders in New York is looking more and more like a piece of meaningless mumbo-jumbo.”

Share International magazine June 2007 reported that “In Rome protesters marched on the Coliseum, demanding that UN troops be sent to Darfur immediately. Placards in Italian and English read: “United Nations in Darfur”, “Remember Darfur lost boys”, and “Stop women and child abuses”. Among demonstrators at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin was Ulrich Delius of Germany’s Society for Threatened Peoples. “Problems of genocide, ethnic cleansing, massive human rights violations is really what is taking place today in western Darfur,” he said, “and there is no initiative of the international community to establish protection of the civilian population. That is shameful.”

Steven Spielberg is currently acting as an “artistic adviser” for Beijing’s Olympic organizing committee for the 2008 games, but possibly not for long. He is threatening to resign because of China’s involvement/lack of involvement in Darfur: Spielberg is reported to have sent an open letter to President Hu Jintao in April 2007 urging China to take a harder line against Sudan over the Darfur crisis. ABC News and other US media cited the director’s spokesman Andy Sphn as saying Spielberg was considering dropping out of the Olympics because of China’s inaction during the crisis.

Concerned citizens are asking why the UN Security Council’s resolutions on Darfur have yet to be enforced. Implementation of No-fly zone on Darfur still awaits action. Targeted sanctions against the architects of the genocide have not been applied. Sudan denied defiantly the referral of its situation to the International War Crimes Tribunal. No wonder the Khartoum regime now rejects non – African UN peacekeepers in the Hybrid force access to Darfur. Some analysts attribute the UNSC’s inaction to the conflict of interests that prevail among some permanent members such as China. Others were saying why the International Community has not intervened and dispatched UN peacekeepers as it did rightly after the 30 – day- war that resulted into a thousand dead, between Israel and Hezbollah. Observers from Africa conclude that double standards apply to their continent, same as what happened in Rwandan genocide in 1994. It seems ‘Lessons from Rwanda’ have not been learned. The “softly-softly approach” with the National Congress Party (NCP) regime in Khartoum is ineffective. The Global Dailies said that it is “naïve” to suggest that a “flurry of diplomats” could compel the GOS to accept their initiatives”. The only language President Omar el-Bashir understands, despite his rhetoric, is confrontation. The sixty-four dollar question ($64) is whether the UN Security Council will decisively muster the political will and organizational onus to face up to its responsibilities and ensure an effective force is in place in Darfur. The International Community and the World leaders should turn up the pressure on Khartoum.

Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is the Deputy Chairman of the General Congress for Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). He can be reached at [email protected]