C-posted at American Chronicle
Two weeks before he vacated the White House, President Bush finally took limited action to address the on-going atrocities in Darfur; atrocities his administration labeled genocide more than four years ago. In the face of mounting criticism of his Darfur policy, Bush announced that the U.S. would airlift vehicles and heavy equipment to an undersupplied United Nations peacekeeping force in the region.
By the end of January, just a few days into Barack Obama´s presidency, he will be given an opening to correct one of the most significant mistakes of the Bush administration - the failure to do anything meaningful to stop the atrocities committed by the Sudanese government and its militia allies against the civilians of Darfur. Obama's opportunity will come courtesy of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the tribunal that was largely shunned by the Bush administration. Within days of Obama being sworn in, the ICC prosecutor is expected to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on war crimes charges related to the killing in Darfur.
The likely ICC action against al-Bashir will ensure that history remembers him as the first sitting head of state to be subject to an arrest warrant in the Court's history. The challenge for the Obama administration is to leverage the pressure the Court's action will bring to bear on al-Bashir. Hopefully, this pressure can force the embattled President or influential members of Sudan's governing party, to commit to a comprehensive peace agreement. Such an agreement would include a range of steps necessary to ensure that ordinary Darfuris can return home and live in peace.
The prosecutor´s expected arrest warrant opens a door for Obama. During his historic run for the White House, Obama noted how our nation´s reputation had fallen around the world. "The disappointment that so many around the world feel toward America right now is only a testament to the high expectations they hold for us. We must meet those expectations again, not because being respected is an end in itself, but because the security of America and the wider world demands it."
By leveraging the arrest warrants and working with influential partners across the globe to stop the killing and solidify a concrete peace agreement, Obama will be sending a clear signal that the U.S. is ready to once again lead by example, because "the world demands it."
The implementation of a peace agreement would likely include a long term U.N. peacekeeping team in the region, demilitarization of the militia groups, governance concessions by the Sudanese central authorities and the transfer of alleged war criminals -- former Minister of State for the Interior, Ahmed Haroun, and Militia Janjaweed leader, Ali Kushayb -- to the ICC.
Such action will mark a significant break from the position of President Obama's predecessor. While Bush was willing to call the killings in Darfur genocide, his administration failed to secure a resolution to the violence and was also guilty of collaborating with the Sudanese authorities on counter terror issues. Human rights activists and the millions of Americans who have taken action to stop the killing in Darfur have high hopes that the new administration will act differently. After all, then Senator Obama noted on Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2008:
"Let us resolve to confront genocide and work to prevent mass atrocities, beginning with greater action to stop the killing in Darfur."
It is clear that the Sudanese government is concerned about the incoming U.S. administration.
"Compared to the Republicans, the Democrats, I think they are hawks," said Ghazi Suleiman, a human rights lawyer and member of the Southern People's Liberation Movement, which has a fragile power-sharing agreement with the ruling party. "I know Obama's appointees. And I know their policy towards Sudan. Everybody here knows it. The policy is very aggressive and very harsh. I think we really will miss the judgments of George W. Bush."
Despite the fears in the Sudanese capital, it is unclear where Darfur ranks on the Obama team´s list of priorities. Surrogates for the incoming U.S. administration have signaled that they aim to get off to a fast start, with the multi-billion dollar fiscal stimulus plan being portrayed as a down payment on a raft of domestic priorities.
ICC action on Darfur will provide Obama's foreign policy team with an opportunity to make a similar down payment on re-introducing the U.S. to the global community. The question remains - will they seize the moment and show a willingness to engage key allies such as France and the UK, along with strategically important countries like China, South Africa and Egypt to bring an end to atrocities that have shamed the global community?
Mr. Purohit teaches at American University Law School and is an expert in international law. Mr. Salter is a strategic communications specialist, and previously served as a Senior Public Affairs Officer at USAID in the Clinton Administration.