A Message to Activists, Policymakers and Friends of Darfur

By Anne Bartlett

March 13, 2009 — Recent days have contained both seeds of hope for Darfur and, at the same time, the very worst that humanity can produce. In Luis Moreno Ocampo we see a person who has the courage to stand up against a tide of murder, rape pillage and abuse. In Omar-al-Bashir, we see a man who, rather than face his own fate through internal Jihad and judicial process, would rather subject innocent women and children to starvation and death. This is not Islam; this is not the Koran. This is cowardice, pure and simple.

The ruling by the ICC against al-Bashir has produced a torrent of negative remarks. People like de Waal have called it a toothless instrument which can never actually be realized. This misses the point. Justice is vital. Justice also has to be symbolic as well as practical if it is to work. It can only be trivialized as insignificant by those who have never experienced injustice. This is not a choice of either/or. The people of Darfur deserve peace and justice: not one, but both.

When faced with these kinds of decisions it is always important to examine the counterfactual. What would happen if the ICC decision did not exist? Would the status quo, extended over several more years help the people of Darfur? Would a slow attrition of lives, be preferable to what is happening now? Would the complete humiliation of people who have suffered unbelievably help them, or would it be a final stab in their backs as they face a long and drawn out deterioration in their conditions? For sure, the status-quo ante the ICC decision requires less action by the international community; it makes the stakes a little less dramatic, but who exactly does it help? It does not help the people of Darfur, that’s for sure.

To all of you out there who can exert some pressure, we now need to do a number of things immediately:

Take every possible action you can take to contact your political representatives and demand that they work speedily to institute a no fly zone in Darfur. As of today, people in the Jabal Mara are being bombed to within an inch of their lives. With the withdrawal of the most effective NGOs in Darfur, the only option available now is food drops. This happened in Southern Sudan. It now has to happen in Darfur. It does not require boots on the ground. It requires political will.

Demand that your representatives exert every possible diplomatic strategy to restore humanitarian access in Darfur. Al-Bashir and his cronies purposefully went after the most effective aid agencies knowing full well that this would cause the maximum damage possible. Contact the supporters of the Sudanese regime to let them know that there will be economic/consumption consequences if they do not make every effort to persuade this regime to reverse their course of action. This includes China and Russia. Do this immediately. It cannot wait. People on the ground will die if we wait.

Put pressure on your representatives to restart the peace process. Doha cannot be seen as an effective peace process. Qatar is a friend of Sudan. They have no interest in a lasting peace and are not seen as credible by the people of Darfur. A serious peace process has evaporated. This has to start with the majority of people on the ground, not those with the biggest guns or loudest proclamations. By listening to those who can talk the best in Darfur, we are simply re-enforcing existing structures of marginality. Elites in Sudan get education not poor people from Darfur. It is time we let Darfurians speak, not the elites that decimated their lives.

Put pressure on Arab nations who know that Al-Bashir is not their friend. He is a friend only of Jihadist groups and rogue nations. Responsible Arab nations know that Al-Bashir will only bring trouble and economic instability to the region. Doing deals with him supports his jihadist agenda. As I said before. This is not Islam. There is nothing in the Koran to support starving and murdering innocent people. Islam is kind and gives alms to the poor. Al-Bashir’s agenda has nothing to do with Islam. What is happening in Sudan today has more in common with Nimeiri’s last days: the courts of decisive justice, random beatings in the streets and murder. Nimeiri was desperate. So is Bashir. He does not have the support of anyone that he does not pay. There are people inside the NCP who want his position.

To everyone out there: activists, policymakers, the diaspora and friends of Darfur. Now is the time for action. The people of Darfur have waited too long, suffered too much and lost everything they have ever owned. It we step back, take no action, become complacent, justify inaction on the grounds that the ICC indictment won’t work, we are burying our heads in the sand. Without action we will also be burying the people of Darfur soon. Now is not the time to procrastinate.

Dr. Anne Bartlett is a Professor at the University of San Francisco. She is also a Director of the Darfur Centre for Human Rights and Development based in London. She may be reached at [email protected]