Quit dithering on Darfur

Editorial, the Journal Sentinel

Dec 27, 2004 — In a masterpiece of understatement, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan acknowledged last week during an end-of-the-year press conference that the U.N.’s approach in Darfur, in western Sudan, “quite frankly ? isn’t working.” Getting it to work may not be possible, given the inherent problems of the situation, but a much better effort in that direction needs to be made, not only by the U.N., but also by the United States.

Partly because it is so remote, partly because events there pose no immediate threat to this country or its vital interests and most of all because it has virtually no political constituency in this country, Darfur has rarely attracted Page One or prime-time interest in the U.S.

But the conflict there represents an urgent and inescapable moral challenge. It has killed 70,000 people and driven 1.8 million from their homes since February 2003. Much of the suffering has been perpetrated by Arab militias that have made common cause with the government.

Attempts by the U.N. to produce a ceasefire have been a dismal failure, as Annan acknowledged, and there is little likelihood that the Security Council will impose sanctions against the regime. Even if they could be imposed, sanctions would take many months to work – if they worked at all.

Several useful steps have been suggested by Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) and former Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, both of whom visited Darfur earlier this year.

Noting that the U.S. still commands respect and influence in the region, they have suggested that President Bush appoint a special envoy to Darfur. They have also recommended that the U.S. and NATO offer logistical support to the African Union’s pitifully inadequate peacekeeping mission in Darfur. They also suggest the appointment of a U.S. ambassador to the AU, just as such envoys have been named to other international organizations.

During the 1990s, up to 500,000 people were murdered in Rwanda, another African country, while the world dithered. The crisis in Darfur is not – yet – as serious. But it could be, unless action is taken now.