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Unprecedented Activism Has Little Impact in Darfur

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
ANALYSIS
January 10, 2007
Posted to the web January 11, 2007

By Mithre J. Sandrasagra
New York
Despite unprecedented global activism on behalf of the people of Darfur, Sudan
in 2006, atrocities continue to occur daily in the region.
Since it began in February 2003, the violence sponsored by the Sudanese
government and perpetrated by its Janjaweed militias has claimed at least
400,000 lives, displaced 2.5 million people and left more than 3.5 million men,
women and children struggling to survive amid violence and starvation,
according to the U.N.
"The tremendous activism we've seen in 2006 sends a powerful message to world
leaders that the atrocities being perpetrated by the Sudanese government will
not be tolerated," said David Rubenstein, executive director of the Save Darfur
Coalition, Tuesday.
The coalition says it represents 130,000,000 people in more than 175 faith-
based, humanitarian and educational member organisations, which include Amnesty
International, American Jewish World Service, American Society for Muslim
Advancement, Genocide Intervention Network and the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
The coalition received more than 4.3 million dollars last year in donations.
This enables it to place high-profile advertisements detailing the situation in
Darfur on television, in the New York Times and in other publications as part
of their Advocacy and Education Campaign.
The amount of donations is increasing dramatically, Colleen Connors of the
coalition told IPS. For example, in the month of October 2005, donations
totalled 17,000 dollars. One year later, in October 2006, 580,000 dollars was
collected, she said.
In 2006, more than one million postcards were sent to U.S. President Bush in
support of a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur and more than 75,000 activists
gathered at the coalition's rallies in Washington and New York City, Connors
added.
"These numbers demonstrate that activists in the United States and in the
international community are -- and have been -- standing united on behalf of
the people of Darfur," said Rubenstein.
Despite this remarkable outpouring of support, there has been little impact in
Darfur.
"The U.S. embargo on economic investment in Sudan has not stopped American
companies like Fidelity and Berkshire Hathaway from investing," Gita Zomrodi of
American Jewish World Services, a member of the coalition, told IPS Wednesday.
These investments have contributed to a booming economy in the country which
has emboldened the government, she said.
In addition to the calculated attempt to starve the population of Darfur,
reports reveal daily violent attacks on villages.
The connection between the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government remains
strong, according to the report of a U.N. panel of experts released late last
year.
"The Janjaweed armed militias appear to have upgraded their modus operandi from
horses, camels and AK-47s to Land Cruisers, pickup trucks and rocket-propelled
grenades," according to the report.
Nothing has changed in Sudan's position on U.N. peacekeepers despite the fact
that the U.S. and U.N. have hailed Sudanese "acceptance" of a hybrid operation
as a success.
At the end of last year, Sudan appeared to capitulate to international
pressure, but only days later, Khartoum made clear that it has not changed its
position and will only accept an African force and African leadership of a
U.N.-African Union (AU) operation.
Khartoum has continued to emphasise that any operation should place the
government of Sudan on equal footing with the AU and U.N. in organising the
initiative and provide Khartoum with veto power.
However, on Monday, Presidential Adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail said the AU
commander in Darfur could decide to send non-African troops to the violent
region if the continent could not provide enough soldiers needed to preserve
security. When asked whether there will be U.N. troops on the ground in Darfur,
he told Reuters: "You are right."
But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir rebuffed calls for U.N. peacekeeping
troops in war-ravaged Darfur Wednesday.
"Our experience with U.N. operations in the world is not encouraging," al-
Bashir said.
"The government is just playing time to survive," Adeeb A. Yousif, of the Sudan
Social Development Organisation, told IPS at the U.N. Wednesday.
"It has been two years since former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited
Darfur and said we have to solve this problem today not tomorrow, yet nothing
has happened," said Yousif, who works on the ground in Darfur.
Africa Action, the oldest U.S. organisation working on African affairs,
welcomed the stated commitment of new U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to
prioritising Darfur, and noted new diplomatic overtures on the part of the
U.S., aimed at advancing new action on this crisis.
However, the group emphasised the urgency of the situation on the ground and
the ongoing deadlock between the Sudanese government and the international
community on the size and composition of a peacekeeping force.
Nii Akuetteh, executive director of Africa Action, said Tuesday, "Despite
hopeful media reports, there has been no diplomatic breakthrough on Darfur and
the death toll is continuing to mount. The international community has
capitulated to Khartoum's opposition to a U.N. force, and the people of Darfur
have been abandoned to the growing violence on the ground."
"The U.N. Security Council must stand up to the Sudanese government now, and
pursue the deployment of the robust U.N. peacekeeping force authorised by
Resolution 1706 last August," he said.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1706 authorises 22,500 UN peacekeepers for
Darfur, yet not one has set foot on the ground thus far.
"Until the U.S. makes Darfur a real priority in its foreign relations, it
cannot claim to be doing everything possible to stop the genocide," said Ann-
Louise Colgan, director of Policy Analysis and Communications at Africa Action.
"New U.S. diplomatic initiatives on Darfur must use all available leverage and
political capital to advance the goal of protecting civilians on the ground. As
U.S. Special Envoy Andrew Natsios visits China this week, he must use
Washington's close economic and political ties with Beijing to enlist Chinese
engagement in challenging Khartoum's obstructionism on Darfur," Colgan said.
China has made clear that it supports a U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur, but
that Khartoum's consent must be achieved first.
Ban has promised to make Darfur a priority. He already has had several meetings
with key stakeholders, including the first meeting of a new U.N. Task Force on
Darfur, and he plans to meet with al-Bashir in late January at African Union
meetings.
Ban worked especially closely this week with the new UN Special Envoy for
Darfur, Jan Eliasson, who is currently travelling in Sudan. Eliasson described
meetings with Bashir Tuesday as "fruitful and constructive," Michele Montas,
Ban's spokesperson told reporters here Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese government has unleashed a fresh aerial bombing
campaign in Darfur in an attempt to inflict as much damage as possible on rebel
forces before U.N. troops arrive in the region. Antonov bombers and helicopter
gunships are reported to have attacked villages and fired on civilians in open
defiance of UN efforts to bring an end to the fighting.
The AU force commander, Major Gen Luke Aprezi, confirmed the attacks and said
they followed talks with rebel groups in which he agreed a ceasefire commitment
that he now fears may no longer hold.


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