Darfur, an ICC arrest warrant, and the humanitarian imperative
By Eric Reeves, The Boston Globe
March 21, 2009 — EARLIER this month, Sudan’s National Islamic Front expelled 13
humanitarian organizations from Darfur and Northern Sudan. The expulsion
order followed immediately the announcement by the International
Criminal Court of an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omar
al-Bashir, charging him with crimes against humanity and war crimes. All
evidence points to a well-planned response by Khartoum to a judicial
decision that was universally expected.
The consequences of these expulsions are enormous. All expelled
organizations played key roles in humanitarian assistance; together they
constituted more than 50 percent of total aid capacity. Now 1.5 million
people no longer have access to primary healthcare, and a deadly
meningitis outbreak threatens tens of thousands. General food
distributions to more than 1 million people have been halted, including
to children and the malnourished. More than 1 million people will no
longer have access to clean water; shortages are already being reported,
and will spread quickly.
On Monday, the regime went further and announced its intention to
expel all international aid organizations within a year, despite being
unable to replace the work or resources of these organizations. This
amounts to genocide by other means. With many months to anticipate the
inevitable ICC announcement, Khartoum was determined to make the most of
the occasion, and elimination of an international humanitarian presence
in Darfur had long been a central ambition. The ICC announcement was not
so much the cause of the expulsions as a singularly opportune pretext.
Efforts to blame the expulsions solely on the ICC’s pursuit of
justice ignore the broader context: For more than five years, Khartoum
has engaged in systematic harassment, obstruction, and intimidation of
humanitarian work. Insecurity has been deliberately engineered to become
intolerable. Perversely, by attributing Khartoum’s long-contemplated
actions exclusively to the ICC warrant, a number of commentators are
playing straight into the regime’s hand.
The basic issue is clear: Many hundreds of thousands of lives are
at acute risk, and the goal of the international community must be to
secure re-admission for expelled organizations. The longer these
expulsions continue, the more difficult it will be for organizations to
resume operations. But so far there are no signs that the international
community has made any progress in changing Khartoum’s thinking.
Despite months of warning that the regime might well target
humanitarian efforts after the ICC announcement, neither the Obama
administration nor the European Union nor the UN Secretariat or Security
Council had done any serious contingency planning. All were caught
flat-footed.
As a consequence, the future looks grim for some 4.7 million people
in Darfur. As water, food, and medical care disappear, these desperate
people will move to where resources seem greater. Many may move to
Eastern Chad, which is already struggling with more than 250,000 Darfuri
refugees. But wherever these populations move they will encounter fierce
competition for steadily diminishing resources. Violence and further
displacement are inevitable.
Are there any answers?
As the Darfur genocide enters its seventh year, the world confronts
a regime emboldened by a trail of worthless Security Council
resolutions, meaningless agreements, and a “peacekeeping” force that can
barely protect itself, let alone civilians and humanitarians.
The one option that remains—a distinct long shot—is Security
Council deferral of the al-Bashir prosecution for a year under Chapter
16 of the ICC’s Rome Statutehumanitarians with security guarantees. A
Chapter 16 deferral has long been expediently supported by the Arab
League and African Union; however, for Western nations–including
Security Council permanent members France, Great Britain, and the
US–supporting a deferral now would be transparently succumbing to the
ugliest form of blackmail. And yet given the inaction by the West and
other international actors, are we in any position to invoke scruples
about “deferring” international justice? Does anyone dare say that
justice for Darfur must go forward, even at the expense of countless
Darfuri lives threatened by humanitarian expulsions?
Before the ICC announcement, Darfuri sentiment was overwhelmingly
in favor of the al-Bashir arrest warrant, no matter what the costs. That
may well be changing, however, as suffering and deprivation grow. Is
anyone bothering to ask the people of Darfur?
* Eric Reeves is author of A Long Day’s Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide. He can be reached at [email protected]. www.sudanreeves.org