Just a decade before the current situation in the Sudan, the genocide in Rwanda ravaged the area where millions of people were slaughtered like "cockroaches". The world said never again. Then the Sudan genocide happened, and we all just watch as it unravels.
I do not believe that a favorable resolution from the United Nations Security Council should be a sine qua non for a limited armed intervention to protect innocent civilians in the Darfur region of the Sudan.
Since 2003, the Sudanese government led by the dictator Omar Al-Bashir and the government supported Janjaweed Arab militia, has systematically destroyed, in substantial part three tribal groups in Darfur because of their ethniticity. The Darfur conflict has been described as the clash between the Arab and the black African Sudanese. The Arab part of the population are mainly nomadic, their black African counterparts are sedentary farmers. Decades of drought and competition for natural resources such as land and water has led to contention for many generations. The present conflict is primarily between the government backed Janjaweed militia against the rebel forces of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement rebels. These rebels come mostly from the non-Arab ethnic groups of the Zaghawa, Fur and Masalit tribes. The militia began targeting not only the rebels, but the civilians of specific ethnic groups. They have targeted and killed the men, young and old. They have also systematically raped the women and sliced open the womb of pregnant women in case they are carrying a male. The United Nations has estimated that as many as 400,000 died from violence and disease. As many as 2.5 million people have been displaced by the conflict. The Sudanese government has been accused of hiding information by jailing, executing witnesses and tampering of evidence, hiding the dead in mass graves to further hide and distort evidence.
The United Nations Security Council
The UN Security Council, is the branch of the United Nations in charge of the maintenance of International Peace and Security. This branch is authorized to establish international sanctions, including the engagement of military action. The five permanent members of the Security Council are; France, the Russian Federation, United Kingdom, China and the United States. Each permanent member has a veto power for any substantive resolution. Ten other members are elected by the General Assembly starting every January 1st, with 5 replaced every year.
The use or even threat of use of the veto by any of the five permanent members of the Security Council effectively reduces the Security Council’s interest in human rights in the Sudan to the lowest common denominator of the five permanent members. The veto threat influences and may cause not just a non-decision to invoke a peacekeeping force; it also shapes other methods to avoid the situation. Indeed, in January of 2005, the Security Council declared that the situation in Darfur does not amount to genocide, although it has alleged that some individuals, including government officials committed "acts with genocidal intent". Genocide is described as intent to destroy a group on national, ethnical, racial or religious grounds. The UN Security Council’s decision was that the tribal groups do not amount to any of these groups targeted in genocide.
China and the Sudan
China, being a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has become a fervent hindrance in stepping up international pressure on Sudan over the Darfur conflict. It has expressed it’s intent, on several occasions, to veto any planned sanctions to pressure the country to end the violence. China, with it’s population of more than a billion, has major investments and interest in the Sudanese oil. I believe that the presence of China as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has impeded the Security Council’s ability to effectively call the real situation in Sudan as genocide, relying instead on the comfort of the technicality of the definition.
International Intervention?
Colin Powel in 2004, has called the situation in the Sudan "genocide". And he emphasized that the genocide may still be occurring. A finding of genocide does not impose obligations on the United States, but as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, the United States is committed to preventing and punishing genocide. In May 2007, the International Criminal Court (ICC), the independent criminal court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, issued arrest warrants against a top government official and the Janjaweed leader for crimes against humanity and war crimes. But the Sudanese government refused to hand over the men to the ICC custody, claiming that the ICC does not have the jurisdiction to try Sudanese citizens as the country is not a party to the Rome Treaty where the ICC was created.
With the failure of the UN Security Council in curbing the genocide in Darfur, the international community, has no other choice but to consider intervention, as a multilateral cooperation. A coalition of willing states, armed with a contingent use of military force, in the interest of humanitarian reasons to prevent crimes against humanity can be utilized in the protection of the inhabitants of the Darfur region. NATO, comprised of 28 member countries, currently assists the African Union (AU) Mission in Sudan in its peacekeeping efforts. The African Union is a confederation of 53 African states that was formed to promote and defend African common positions and interest of the continent, it’s democratic institutions, good governance and human rights. But the African Union Force has been criticized by the refugees are ineffective. I believe, a stronger military enforcement and peacekeeping operations must be implemented. The international community must continue to pressure NATO and the African Union Force to send troops into the Darfur region of the Sudan. The international community, in coalition with NATO and the African Union needs to urgently take bold and swift action in order to protect civilians. It must take all necessary actions with no restrictions, including military force against any attacks on civilians and humanitarian efforts.
The capture of the accused criminals from the Sudanese government officials and the Janjaweed militia leaders should be enforced, and the accused should be brought to trial in the International Criminal Court. Efforts at the UN Security Council should continue as well, most especially targeted at China for it’s constant obstruction of any effort to resolve the conflict, just to protect it’s own selfish interest in the region.
This would not be an easy effort to undertake, especially when a lot of states do not necessarily have an economic or political interest in the region. But it is necessary for humanitarian reasons. Human life must rise above diplomatic inconveniences. We must send a strong message to rogue nations that the international community will rise against any crimes against humanity. The events in Darfur constitute a crime against all humanity, and a urgent call to action must be placed with an extreme urgency.