While the United Nations Security Council and diplomats at the UN General Assembly were discussing Darfur this week, they forgot to listen to the voices of Darfurians – who are the most important voices to be heard in this crisis. Darfurians feel that they are being left behind, and that their voices should be considered that is why we decided to meet with Mr Luis Moreno Ocampo. On September 24, myself and a group of about 150 Darfurians and Sudanese from different parts of the United States gathered in Brooklyn, New York to meet with Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and have a Ramadan Iftar with him. They wanted to stand with him and support his work – and make sure that he knows that they are the ones whose voices need to be heard.
When Ocampo entered the room, we as Darfurians stood up and showed our appreciation to him with one voice. We clapped and welcomed him with chants of support for over 10 minutes. People shouted things like, “Thank you” and “Justice for Darfur Now.” We as Darfurians said that we are there to show our unanimous support of the ICC to continue its work and indict Bashir – because at this critical moment we feel like we have been left behind. So many African and other international leaders have come to New York to figure out how to protect al-Bashir, who has committed genocide against our people. They have not, instead, thought of how to protect the IDPs and refugees and the Darfuri people who have suffered over the last six years.
After being a voice largely ignored in media coverage surrounding International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s case against Sudanese President al-Bashir, more than 100 Darfuri and Sudanese diaspora leaders today publicly urged the U.N. Security Council to veto any effort to delay the pursuit of justice in Darfur. In a letter to Burkinabe Ambassador to the United Nations Michel Kafando, the diverse alliance said that the ICC provided the international community a unique opportunity to match action with its rhetoric about ending the Darfur genocide. (more…)
After billions spent, countless hours of debate, and an endless stream of tough words, it is deplorable that the most powerful nations in the world can muster only a ‘half-strength force’ to protect Darfuri civilians. The U.N. has now admitted what has long been clear: the previous promise to deploy 80 percent of the UNAMID force by December will not be kept. Even the new, reduced goal of 50 percent seems a stretch. Vitally needed helicopters, trucks and logistics are nowhere in sight. How can that be so?
This ‘half-strength force’ is a product of U.N. member states’ half-strength political will – not just on peacekeepers, but on the Darfur crisis overall. Talking tough about protecting Darfuris is easy; contributing equipment and peacekeepers and overcoming Sudanese government intransigence as part of a comprehensive strategy for peace is not. Speaking in platitudes about justice and accountability is easy; standing behind the ICC chief prosecutor is not. Calling for peace is easy; putting sustained effort into creating a viable and inclusive peace process is not. Deploring violence is easy; but calling out China, Russia, and others for arming a genocidal regime is not.
“It started firing. People began screaming. The shooting continued until the houses were burning. The woman was burned on her legs. Her body had a bullet hole that went from her chest to her back.” Such statements have tragically become routine since the start of the Darfur genocide, but what makes this quote of particular note is that the “it” was identified as a Chinese-made anti-aircraft gun mounted on the back of a Dong Feng truck, also manufactured in China.
Despite a UN embargo on arms transfers into Darfur, several countries, including Russia and China, continue to funnel weapons to the Sudanese government by exploiting a loophole. The existing embargo allows weapons sales to the Government of Sudan provided they are not bound for Darfur — but the Sudanese government has publicly stated that it has every right to transfer military equipment wherever it wishes.
While attending a conference with Darfuri civil society leaders in Tanzania, Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, spoke with attendees about the significance of the ICC charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. These leaders, who have witnessed the violence and injustice in Darfur, also reacted to reports that U.N. Security Council member countries may invoke Article 16 to let al-Bashir off the hook for his crimes.
The Sudanese military attacked the Kalma camp for displaced persons in South Darfur this week, gunning down civilians armed (according to the UN) mostly with “sticks, knives and spears.” The attack left more than 30 people dead. The UN denounced the attack as “excessive, disproportionate force.” But there’s another word for it – criminal.
Which makes it all the more unbelievable that a number of governments are considering UN Security Council action to suspend the International Criminal Court’s Darfur investigation, on the ground that accusing the Sudanese president of crimes impedes progress toward peace. What progress? What peace?
Sources tell us that some members of the Security Council seem eager to cut a deal and have suggested some terms to Khartoum. I hope before doing anything further, they will go to Kalma and ask the relatives of those murdered this week what they think of putting justice on hold.
We commend the U.S. government’s principled decision to abstain from a Security Council vote which unconscionably linked the reauthorization of the UNAMID civilian protection mission to possible legal protection for the architect of the Darfur genocide. The resolution was tainted by unnecessary language aimed at diminishing the role of justice and accountability in this conflict – and which ultimately could accord impunity to a government apparatus accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Leading nations must not blithely bargain away the ICC investigation.
Passers-by didn’t know what was happening. A helicopter was parked in the middle of the street, one block away from the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
What seemed like a wrong turn was actually a direct message to world leaders. As the U.N. Security Council debated its hybrid peacekeeping mission to Darfur, activists brought this helicopter one block away to deliver a strong message to the world’s leading nations: “Fulfill your promise to Darfur.”
Jerry Fowler, Save Darfur Coalition president, holds a petition to the U.N. Security Council with more than 55,000 signatures urging world leaders to “fulfill their promise to Darfur.” Behind Fowler is a helicopter — a symbol of the world’s failure to supply critical helicopters and equipment so desperately needed by the UNAMID peacekeeping mission.
Salim Salim, the former chief mediator for the African Union in Darfur, published an op-ed in the International Herald Tribune yesterday strongly criticizing the international community for failure to support UNAMID:
If the international community is serious about fulfilling its responsibility to protect civilians in Darfur, it can start by providing the basics that Unamid urgently needs. Such support could have saved some of those peacekeepers who died this month gallantly trying to protect civilians. The least we can do in their memory is to make sure that no more civilians or peacekeepers perish because of resource constraints.
The report received a high-level endorsement today. Rodolphe Adada, the Joint A.U.-U.N. Special Representative for Darfur, expressed his appreciation for the Consortium’s effort to produce the report.
Salim Salim, the former chief mediator for the African Union in Darfur, published 
Yesterday,