Nor I think would it help much to declare their plight a genocide for all that this would force the UN
Nor, I think, would it help much to declare their plight a “genocide”, for all that this would force the UN to take action. What is happening in western Sudan is not the same as Kosovo or Rwanda, nor is it, strictly speaking, a genocide. It is the kind of messy local, tribalised tragedy bred on deprivation and a lack of resources, and fuelled by outside interference, too many guns and a government that has used the local Arab Janjaweed forces as its surrogates for its own political ends Bombing Khartoum won’t make the situation better. Nor will walking away from it.Some of the elements of an eventual solution are already in place. The regional grouping, the African Union, is actively involved, and is just raising the number of troops it is sending there to 2,000.
The UN has begun to take a more positive, and potentially interventionist, stance Of course, it’s too little, too late. But if we are to prevent such disasters happening again – and they are all too likely to be a feature of our times – then these are the avenues that need to be developed for the future. The worst thing we could do is to denigrate and marginalise them now.Nor does it do much good to seek a direct confrontation with the Sudanese government at this point It’s no use demanding they immediately disarm the Janjaweed Khartoum won’t, and quite possibly can’t, do it. What the international community should be doing is to concentrate on the refugees, ensuring a much more rapid build-up of aid and encampments across the border in Chad, and providing the (preferably non-Western) security forces to protect the refugees as they cross.
This can be backed by the threat of pursuit across the border and enforcing a no-fly zone, should the refugees be threatened.It won’t necessarily protect the Darfurians in the villages. But it will prevent a catastrophe, and will make it clear to Khartoum that the international community is prepared for a showdown where it matters most – on the ground when the lives of civilians are threatened. Then you can start putting the squeeze on Khartoum to get the refugees returned, not in the language of threat but with the simple point that Sudan cannot hope to find support or aid from the international community until its fulfils its obligations to its own people.a.hamilton independent.co.uk
More from Adrian Hamilton. “Some of them had to be drunk to go there.” It was obvious that Mouffak sometimes had to indulge.
