U.S. should lead U.N. towards Sudanese peace

by Rebecca Harshbarger

Wednesday February 22, 2006

This February there has been much at stake. The international community can now mark the deaths of about 400,000 civilians in western Sudan, where the Sudanese government in Khartoum has attempted to wipe out and exterminate three Afro-Sudanese ethnic groups: the Fur, from which Darfur gets its name, the Zaghawa, and the Massaleit.

Second, as it does every month, the Security Council has rotated its presidency. During its presidency of the U.N. Security Council this month the United States, led by Ambassador John R. Bolton, has passed a statement–but not a resolution–calling for the deployment of thousands of peacekeepers to Darfur. Nothing short of a resolution, which has the teeth that a statement does not, will improve the chances of ethnic groups in Darfur, who are now primarily living in camps for internally displaced people in Darfur and Chad. A Security Council Statement merely triggers contingency planning towards a possible future peacekeeping mission, and does not formally commit the Security Council to such a UN mission in Darfur.

Through every way imaginable, the international community must let Ambassador John R. Bolton and the Bush Administration know that we will not stand silently by during genocide, and that the United States must take bolder action by introducing an actual resolution at the U.N. Security Council this month.

On February 3, the Security Council stated that the current strategy for ending carnage in Sudan was failing and supported the deployment of troops to the region. These forces would absorb the present African Union (AU) troops that came to the United Nations in January to ask for help. This force would then rearm the existing troops and increase the total troop presence from somewhere between 12,000 and 20,000, up from 7,000. On February 5, the United States urged NATO to play a bigger role in the Sudan, such as offering more logistics, intelligence and planning assistance, and possibly deploying a small number of experts on the ground. The first troops from the United Nations are not likely to arrive in Darfur for virtually a year.

Africa Action is a pivotal organization working in partnership with activists and civil society on both continents to change U.S. foreign policy and the policies of international institutions in order to support African struggles for peace and development. They recently stated in an open letter that "the U.S. must stop hiding behind the AU and put forward a binding resolution now. The choice to advance a non-binding statement over a resolution will result in a minimum of a six-week delay. This will mean that a minimum of 10,000 additional lives will likely be lost."

The Assistant Secretary of State for the U.S, Jendayi Frazer, has made some recent statements about Darfur. These statements have demonstrated that the United States is now stepping away from calling the crisis in Darfur "genocide." Yet more than 100,000 people living in refugee camps in southern Darfur were attacked and forced to immediately flee from the camps in the past couple weeks. The victims of these attacks are now without basic humanitarian aid or protection, leading to the likelihood of thousands of deaths, despite the incredible resiliency and strength of ethnic groups that have lived in relative peace in a region with few resources for hundreds of years.

Last fall and winter, I felt very lucky and honored to work at a non-governmental organization, the Unitarian Universalist office at the United Nations. One of my tasks was mobilizing Unitarian Universalists communities around genocide in the Sudan by providing information via print and electronic newsletters, action alerts and electronic links to recently released information with my colleagues at the office.

Being a member of civil society is so much different than, for instance, sitting on the Security Council, but it gave me huge opportunities. I was able to attend many events and briefings on the Sudan at the United Nations and United Nations Plaza and sit in on an open part of a Security Council meeting.

At the meeting, representatives from the African Union and UN representative Jan Pronk briefed the Security Council on the Sudan.

There is one question that many people are asking: Is there really that much evidence to back up that the Sudanese government has attempted to exterminate these groups?
First, there is significant documentary evidence: the Human Rights Watch actually obtained government documents of the Sudan which explicitly state its actions of arming, equipping and transporting militias to destroy, in part, targeted groups. Observers in the African Union have also uncovered a document that indicates a policy of genocide on the part of the government.

Second, for more than two years, the government has systematically established a pattern of atrocities including mass killings, mass rapes, bombings, burning and pillaging villages and destruction of water wells and crops directed against targeted groups.

Third, perhaps most damning, testimony of genocide survivors consistently reports that their perpetrators frequently stated their intent to destroy these groups through a larger government effort. Witnesses and documentary evidence have also revealed that the Sudanese government has sought to erase all traces of the mass graves of executed civilians in the western Sudan. The actions of the Sudanese government has resulted in the deaths of more than 400,000 people–whether through using rape as a weapon of genocide, systematically murdering pregnant women, deliberately destroying water resources and crops, or bombing villages.

There has been considerable work by people of Fur, Massaleit and Zaghawa descent, as well as international communities, to end the ongoing genocide committed by the Sudanese government. Survivors who have managed to flee and seek refuge in other countries have shared oral histories and significant evidence that explicitly describes the work of the government to eliminate them.

The Massaleit community in exile has created an incredible website full of extensive information at http://www.massaleit.info/. The Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, also created by the Massaleit community in exile, has formed an extensive advocacy group whose work can be viewed at www.damanga.org.

Former slaves from the Sudan such as Francis Bok, Abuk Bak, Mohamed Yahya and Simon Deng are currently working through the American Anti-Slavery Group to challenge systems of global slavery and genocide, and engage in countless speaking engagements to generate awareness and action.

Deng is currently organizing the "Sudan Freedom Walk," which will be a three hundred mile journey by Sudanese refugee, former slaves and countless people in solidarity from New York City to Washington, D.C. to generate consciousness, financial donations and action.