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In the past week, the blood-stained regime ruling Sudan has once again engaged in "open and transparent effort to overthrow a neighboring government," Chad, where for the past week Sudanese-backed rebels have been attacking towns. The attacks put at risk half a million Sudanese and Chadian refugees in the region.

Khartoum seems determined to give new meaning to the phrase "repeat offender." The proxy militias it arms, in concert with the Sudanese military, continue to destroy villages and bomb schools in Darfur. Ahmad Harun--who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for recruiting and ordering Janjaweed to commit mass rape, murder, and looting, and who should be on trial in The Hague--instead continues to be the Sudanese government minister in charge of supervising (and impeding and expelling) humanitarian workers in Darfur.

Instead of enabling Khartoum's behavior by our inaction, the international community should be putting concerted economic and legal pressure on Khartoum, and on specific officials such as Harun, to get the promised U.N. humanitarian protection force on the ground in Darfur, and to get a real peace process started like the one that won an agreement stopping Sudan's previous civil war (which was north-south, rather than east-west). Instead of replicating that success, though, we've been letting Khartoum undermine it: Last month the Sudanese Armed Forces "burned the strategic town of Abyei to the ground, leaving the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) at extreme risk, " as John Prendergast of the Enough Project pointed out to the U.N. Security Council in a briefing on Tuesday.

Read Prendergast's Tuesday Security Council briefing and Enough's new report on how to get humanitarian protection and a long-term solution in Darfur. The world has stood idly by too long.

Elizabeth Palmberg is an assistant editor of Sojourners.

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'...concerted economic and legal pressure on Khartoum, and on specific officials such as Harun, to get the promised U.N. humanitarian protection force on the ground in Darfur,...'

OK - this did not work in Iraq - partly thanks for France and Russia etc. It did not work in Korea - we are at a stale-mate there. You stated that the 'north - south' is ready to fail. So - if these efforts do not work there why do you think that they will work here? If they are tried and fail - what will be your next step to bring stability to this region?

Blessings -
.

Posted by: Moderatelad | June 20, 2008 11:04 AM

Elizabeth, thanks for the post.

And we know from South Africa that concerted pressure does indeed sometimes work. For that matter, it was working in Iraq, though at horrible cost to average citizens there.

Posted by: carl copas | June 20, 2008 12:17 PM

Darfur has been the great disappointment in my short humanitarian life. As a recet college grauate, I have followed the ebb and flow of this rollercoaster. I found elation as the issue seemed to gain traction and action on the part of activists and the media, but ultimately every gain has been marked by disappointment. Will the UN's Peacekeeping force ever touch down? Anyone who knows what more pratical steps can be taken by concerned activists,please step forward because I don't think I'd be the only one listening.

Posted by: Greg | June 20, 2008 1:04 PM

The author writes: "Instead of replicating that success, though, we've been letting Khartoum undermine it: "

"Letting" them? When the US tries to stop "letting" tyrants do their thing, these days, the government and US armed forces get a bunch of whining and whimpering. Why would our current administration try and stop this? And why are they to be held responsible for "letting" these tyrants in Khartoum be what they are -- tyrants?
If we want to stop them, we can. But be prepared, this time, to stick with the administration in Washington while they work to stop "letting" evil be evil.

Posted by: joekc | June 21, 2008 3:03 PM

Well stated!

Blessins -
.

Posted by: Moderatelad | June 21, 2008 8:04 PM

Sudan oil, Chinese guns and Coca Cola

The government of Sudan uses the oil wealth of the south to buy arms from China. It gives money and arms to the arab militias such as the janjawid in Darfur.

I grew up in Abyei, where there were frequent raids by arab milita to take black Christians as slaves. In Darfur black muslims are persecuted.

The latest attack on Abyei in May 2008 was carried out by the Sudan Armed Forces and paramilitary bandits. Citizens were killed while the blue helmets of the so-called UN peacekeepers looked on and did nothing. In the same month the janjawid attacked the town of Tawila in Darfur. The UN troops stationed there watched as the market was burned and homes were looted.

I am a black Christian woman from South Sudan. I now see what I share with the black Muslims of Darfur. Darfur and Abyei are neighbours.

In the past there were many bad things that happened between South Sudan and Darfur. These were caused by the military governments of Sudan. It was a deliberate policy to keep us weak, keep us divided.

Anywhere in the world you will find refugees from conflicts in South Sudan and Darfur. Let South Sudanese and Darfuris unite to ask host countries and religious organisations to put pressure on the government of Sudan

Darfur supporters are now in protests against Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola sells its products in Sudan, avoiding the US sanctions, and it will sponsor the “genocide Olympics” in China the country which provides arms to Sudan in exchange for oil. On June 26 there will be a South Sudan demonstration in Washington. The two events should see South Sudanese and Darfuris together for peace in Sudan.

Posted by: julie kuol | June 22, 2008 8:17 AM

joekc: ""Letting" them? When the US tries to stop "letting" tyrants do their thing, these days, the government and US armed forces get a bunch of whining and whimpering."

There are other ways to put pressure on Khartoum than with military action. Again, South Africa offers lessons here.

"a bunch of whining and whimpering."
Abraham Lincoln "whined and whimpered" about the way President Polk provoked a war with Mexico in 1846. Martin Luther King "whine and whimpered" about the Vietnam War. Mark Twain "whined and whimpered" about the U.S. war against the Filipino revolution. That's pretty good company--think I'll keep "whining and whimpering" about the U.S. military effort in Iraq. After all, the First Amendment says I can, and the Sermon on the Mount tells me I ought to.

Posted by: carl copas | June 23, 2008 12:04 PM

Good perspective. But South Africa is the only example that I have seen on this site and there are several failures that have been mentioned. You were also dealing with people in SA that had a 'western mindset'. Iran - North Korea, etc do not and therefore should be handled differently in my opinion. But I am not sure that the US will and we know that they UN can't. Should be interesting over the next four+ years here on planet earth.

Posted by: Moderatelad | June 23, 2008 12:29 PM

Khartoum Continues to Undermine Peace Efforts (by Elizabeth Palmberg)

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