Bush takes lead to spur world action on Darfur crisis
By RICHARD S. WILLIAMSON, Chicago Sun-Times
Nov 15, 2004 — In a bold move, the United States is taking the United Nations Security Council on the road this week to help end the violence and terrible suffering in Sudan.
The agonizing situation in Sudan is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Two million people have died there over the past 20 years during brutal conflicts first between the North and the South, and now between Khartoum and the western region of Darfur. Villages have been burned, livestock slaughtered, women raped and branded as slaves, and people killed. The more recent violence has been carried out in coordinated attacks between the Arab government in Khartoum and the Arab militia known as the Janjaweed against the black farmers in Darfur. In recent months, more than 70,000 have died and 1.8 million have been driven from their homes. Most now live in perilous conditions in refugee camps.
The U.N. and the international community have been slow to act to end this catastrophe that President Bush has called “genocide.”
When he first came to office in 2001, Bush appointed former Sen. John Danforth as his personal envoy to Sudan. Danforth made many trips to the region to jump-start negotiations. This American engagement was critical to advancing an African peace process. By 2003, a series of agreements had been reached between the North and South, and Sudan seemed on the verge of peace. Then new violence broke out between the North and the western province of Darfur.
The fighting turned vicious. Innocent people were brutally killed or driven from their homes. Soon the violence took the form of “ethnic cleansing” as Arabs attacked blacks.
In February, Bush became the first world leader to publicly call for an end to the violence in Darfur. In April, the United States pushed for a strong resolution at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights condemning the vicious fighting in Darfur and demanding it end. During the summer, the United States sent more than $200 million of aid to help the desperate Sudan refugees and pushed for strong U.N. Security Council action.
Unfortunately, the strong language the United States proposed for U.N. resolutions repeatedly has been watered down and, consequently, there has been minimal impact on the ground. The U.N. envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, recently reported that the violence and insecurity in Darfur have increased and that “Darfur may easily enter a state of anarchy.”
This month, however, the United States serves as president of the U.N. Security Council, and Bush and Danforth, now U.S. ambassador to the U.N., are making a historic diplomatic step to advance peace in Sudan.
For the first time in more than 30 years, the U.N. Security Council will meet outside its headquarters in New York City.
Ambassador Danforth is taking the U.N. Security Council to meet Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya, to address the growing crisis in Sudan. This will focus world attention on the situation. It will increase pressure on other Security Council members to be forward-leaning on this subject. And this heightened pressure, hopefully, can help lead Sudan to a sustainable peace.
There already have been important breakthroughs. In the runup to the U.N. Security Council trip to the region, Sudan has felt the mounting international pressure. For the first time, Sudan agreed to create “no-fly zones” over Darfur, banning military flights over the region. Also, the Sudan government and Darfur’s representatives signed accords that might lead to peace and stability in Darfur.
The dramatic initiative of Bush and Danforth to take the U.N. Security Council to the region may well lead to a comprehensive agreement that finally could bring peace to Sudan and an end to the suffering.
The United States, acting alone and with other nations, is committed to ending the genocide and to alleviating the great humanitarian crisis in Sudan. For the sake of the suffering people of Sudan, let’s hope this new step succeeds.
Richard S. Williamson is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.