UN Humanitarian Chief John Holmes visited Darfur and reported back that he thinks gaps created by the expulsion of major aid groups in early March will be filled enough to avert a major catastrophe:
“We now have access [to warehouses where relief supplies are stored], we’ll be working extremely hard to make up for lost time. But we’re not in as good a position as we would have been otherwise,” Holmes said.
“The rainy season is always a period of increased risk, the risks are even greater than they would have been otherwise because of the expulsions. But I’m reasonably confident we’ll get through it without a major crisis.”
Holmes said the most “critical life-saving gaps” in aid, particularly in food, water and emergency shelter, had been filled, albeit in an ad-hoc way.
“So that there is not as far as I can tell a threat of an imminent humanitarian crisis at the moment in Darfur.”
Let’s hope his optimism is justified – though there are so many variables and uncertainties that it’s not certain. But even if a full blown catastrophe
is averted, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this is just getting back to zero. It’s not progress.
The increased risk to civilians was created by the government’s callous cynicism, just as civilians need aid in the first place because of the government’s campaign of destruction and displacement. Nobody should be satisfied if the situation merely returns to the status quo that prevailed before March 4, when the aid groups were kicked out.
And even as Bashir took some steps to avert the crisis that he himself set in motion, he also scuttled a civil society conference that promised to advance the cause of peace and appointed indicted war criminal Ahmed Haroun to be
governor of Southern Kordofan, a tense region that saw genocidal violence
against the peoples of the Nuba Mountains in the 1990s and where new
violence may be in the offing.
This behavior underscores that a viable strategy for peace means
presenting the Sudanese government with a choice. If the Sudanese government permits unimpeded humanitarian access, removes indictees and secures peace in Darfur and the South, a clear process toward normalization should be mapped out. If President Bashir and his party continue to undermine efforts at peace for the country – as they did last week – a series of escalating costs should ensue, including diplomatic isolation, targeted multi-lateral economic sanctions, and an effective multilateral arms embargo
Now is the time for bold, agenda-setting leadership by President Obama to
end the Sudan crises, instead of managing them from week to week and month to month.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Save Darfur Coalition.
