Sudan: More Reports, Little Action

[gottaB]

AfricaFocus (Washington, DC)
May 10, 2004
Posted to the web May 10, 2004

Editor's Note

The United Nations Security Council met on Friday in private session and heard a report from the UN Commissioner for Human Rights documenting a "scorched earth policy" and "repeated crimes against humanity" by Sudanese militia and troops in Darfur, western Sudan. But they failed to take any collective action other than pledging to "monitor developments."

Also on Friday, Human Rights Watch issued its latest report on Darfur, concluding that "the response of the international community to the events in Sudan has been nothing short of shameful."

The U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee also held hearings in full session last week on Sudan. Despite recent statements by U.S. officials critical of Sudan, John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group told the House Committee that the Sudan government does not believe "the U.S. will apply significant or meaningful pressure in response to its actions, allowing Khartoum to act with virtual impunity." The committee unanimously passed a resolution urging President Bush to impose additional sanctions on Sudanese leaders.

....

Sudan: More Reports, Little Action....

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This is a compendium of reports on Sudan's genocide from Africa Focus, with links to reports and committee hearings.

[aquart]

1. Over two million black Sudanese dead.

They are deliberately targeted because they are black. They have committed no other offense except not to be Arab.

I don't believe in using "genocide" lightly. But the policy in the Sudan calls for it.

Is there any way we can make Israel responsible so people will care?

[gottaB]

3. it's frustating

The crudest kinds of identity politics seem to dominate geopolitical debates, and if you take a stand against genocide like this, you find yourself having to justify the position, as if a governement wiping away masses of people weren't some kind of a problem.

Well, paying attention is half the battle. On the bright side, the AU may be deadly serious about at least containing the mayhem, and Chad definitely is. The EU may not be totally feckless. Who knows.

[gottaB]

2. Links

Good Links

• Amnesty is getting active: Amnesty International: Sudan.


• The best quick summary of the current crisis I've seen: Sudan agreeable in south, murderous in west.

Previous Posts

• Uprooted Sudanese Balk at Invitation to Return Home
  
• Sudan Government Responsible for Ethnic Cleansing, Group Says
  
• 
  

Various and Sundry

• Iraq overshadows tragedy in Sudan
  
• Open letter to Paul Martin: Don't let Sudan become the next Rwanda
  
• Before the Sudanese Genocide: A Rejoinder (Sudan's Ambassador to Nigeria voices objections)
  
• Germany calls for international pressure to end Sudan bloodshed
  
• Sudan and Chad in crisis talks
  
• Chad Blames Sudan Fighters in Border Raids
  
• The Microbes of Mayhem: Diseases festering in Sudan's ethnic conflict imperil us all
  
• Chad/Sudan: Assistance to Refugees
  

Did somebody say "Send in the Proselytizers"?

• Muslim Relief Counters Blooming Missionaries In Darfur
  
• Forced Islamization Under Way in Western Sudan
  

***

VOA News has had some informative articles, but I can't figure out how to link them directly.

[demon67]

4. Rwanda 2 Electric Boogaloo

Is the world really going to let this happen again?!?!? Query whether the U.N. is capable of doing anything decisive -- when in the same week it condemns Sudan's genocide in Darfur, it elects Sudan to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. (See news snip below.) It is as sad as it is outrageous. I know we cannot stop every injustice in the world, but this is one we can stop, or at least mitigate. It is a tragedy -- both that it is happening and that we are letting it happen.


--------------------------
U.S. Protests Sudan's Election to UN Human Rights Commission
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. diplomat walked out of a meeting to elect countries to the United Nations Human Rights Commission to protest the decision to give Sudan a seat on the panel, saying the Arab-dominated Sudanese government permits human rights abuses against its black African citizens.

Sudanese Deputy Ambassador Omar Manis responded that the U.S. is ``turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by American forces against the innocent civilian population in Iraq,'' including ``infamous and degrading'' treatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers.

The African group of nations nominated Sudan, Guinea, Kenya and Togo to four seats on the Human Rights Commission that go by UN tradition to nations from the continent. Sudan was elected without a poll of countries to a three-year term on the panel.

``The United States is perplexed and dismayed by the decision to put forward Sudan -- a country that massacres its own African citizens -- for election,'' U.S. envoy Sichan Siv said before walking out of a meeting in New York of the UN Economic and Social Council, which elects countries to the 53-member Human Rights Commission.

The U.S. has warned President Omar al-Bashir that his government is ``responsible'' for militias attacking civilians in the war-torn Darfur region in western Sudan. President George W. Bush last week said Bashir should ``not remain complicit'' in the violence, and demanded UN humanitarian workers have unconditional access to the area.

[THUNDER HANDS]

5. for those who think American soldiers are barbarians

Take a look at these folks down here. They make those Iraqi prison guards look like the Justice League.