Memorandum submitted by the Darfur Centre
for Human Rights and Development
In March 2005 the House of Commons International
Development Select Committee produced a devastating report on
Darfur that took the government to task for deliberately downplaying
the scale of the crisis. The report, which called for the active
involvement of the U.K government in the implementation of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), also made clear that the
situation in Darfur was untenable. It argued that the UK government
must make substantive efforts to exert pressure on the Khartoum
regime if there was to be a lasting resolution of the crisis in
Darfur. It also said that governments—in this case the British
government—must be accountable for both their actions—and
perhaps more importantly here—their inaction.
It has been more than 6 months since the publication
of this report, yet little has happened to protect those suffering
in Darfur. Inaction has spawned indifference as people on the
ground continue to die, are raped, abused, mutilated and lose
everything they own. This happens while the world stands by; while
the UK government sticks to a policy that is failing to protect
the people of Darfur.
Genocides and crimes against humanity don't
just happen; they are made. And the greatest ally of perpetrators
of such crimes is international inaction. In recent months, we
have witnessed terrible devastating natural disasters worldwide,
for which little can be done except to pick up the pieces. And
we must. But Darfur is different. It is a crisis perpetrated against
human beings by human beings. It is something that we can stop.
UN member states recently agreed that they have a responsibility
to protect victims of genocide and crimes against humanity when
their own governments fail to protect them, or are themselves
the perpetrators of these crimes. Britain will chair the UNSC
in December and should use the principles of "Responsibility
to Protect" to take further action in relation to civilian
protection in Darfur and urge other UNSC members to do the same.
After Rwanda, the world said that genocide must
never happen again. But we are watching a crisis of similar proportions
unfold before our eyes. Over recent months the situation in Darfur
has not improved, it has deteriorated markedly. Our informants
on the ground fear a Srebrenica style massacre if they are not
afforded greater protection. We can, and must take action now.
The following, in particular, should be noted
by the International Development Committee:
— The AU mission in Darfur remains
under-resourced and inadequate to meet the enormous task set it.
With close to 6,000 monitors on the ground, it needs more logistical
help, firmer support from the international community, particularly
the EU. It needs enough political will behind it to hold its own
against the government of Sudan. With an upsurge of banditry on
the ground in the west of Darfur, the ongoing incorporation of
the Janjaweed into the security services and the disarray of the
insurgency movements, now is the time to show a serious commitment
to resolve this problem.
— In light of continuing attacks on
women IDPs in particular, the international community must put
pressure on both Khartoum and the AU to allow the deployment of
armed policewomen, seconded from African police forces, to specifically
protect women in Darfur. In funding such a programme of secondment,
the international community would be both building the capacity
of police forces in the region, and facilitating and encouraging
"African solutions to African problems".
— Pressure must be brought to bear
on the Khartoum regime to restore a permanent media presence in
Darfur. In the absence of any free press there can be no dialogue
or accountability. Free media is also essential in documenting
daily events that may provide the basis of investigations by the
International Criminal Court, which has opened investigations
in Darfur, but with whom the GOS refuses to cooperate. The regime
knows this and has actively worked to ban or silence independent
media. The UK government must exert pressure to open Darfur up
to both local and international media.
— Government of Sudan military aircraft
continue regular offensive flights over Darfur breaking Security
Council Resolution 1591 with apparent impunity. Ambassador Baba
Gana Kingibe, Special Representative of the Chairperson of the
AU Commission on Darfur reported that:
"On 28 September 2005, some reportedly 400 Janjaweed
Arab militia on camels and horseback went on the rampage in Arusharo,
Acho and Gozmena villages in West Darfur. Our reports also indicate
that the day previous, and indeed on the actual day of the attack,
Government of Sudan helicopter gunships were observed overhead.
This apparent coordinated land and air assault gives credence
to the repeated claim by the rebel movements of collusion between
the Government of Sudan forces and the Janjaweed/Arab militia.
This incident, which was confirmed not only by our investigators
but also by workers of humanitarian agencies and NGOs in the area,
took a heavy toll resulting in 32 people killed, four injured
and seven missing, and about 80 houses/shelters looted and set
ablaze."
As has been documented by the UN's
Juan Mendez recently, the security situation has deteriorated
dramatically in Darfur since the summer, with the Khartoum-backed
Janjaweed, and Sudanese military and security services personnel
implicated in ongoing attacks against IDPs. Recent reports from
Reuters confirm the pattern of attacks on civilians on the ground:
"`Daily they come in and beat our people. But
no one does anything,' said Darfuri Yehya Ahmed. `They come on
horses and camels. They rape our women and try to scare us away
to force us to go home,' the elderly camp resident told Reuters.
`They (the AU troops) just come and write reports which don't
go anywhere,' he said. `They have been here now for more than
a year and still we live in terror—we cannot go home.'."
(Reuters dateline: Riyad Camp, West Darfur, 6 October
2005)
— In spite of these facts; in spite
of the fact that the Sudanese military has taken to painting their
vehicles white in order to disguise them as NGO or UN vehicles,
nothing has been done to counteract their evident duplicity. The
UN prohibition of offensive flights has not been enforced, nor
have provisions for the imposition of travel bans and asset freezes
on those who impede the peace process or who constitute a threat
to stability or commit violations of international humanitarian
or human rights law as described in Resolution 1591. The UK must
exert pressure to render these resolutions meaningful without
further delay.
— IDPs and humanitarian workers in
Darfur fear that if the international community's attention strays
elsewhere, there is a real risk of a Srebrenica-style attack on
IDPs. With the withdrawal of UN staff in the West of Darfur—especially
around el-Geneina—there is a security vacuum. The local
population, already abandoned to the militias, now amount to nothing
more than "sitting ducks". This begs an inevitable question:
Why it is acceptable to remove international staff due to security
problems and yet leave the local population to fend for themselves?
— The response of the UN Security Council
remains timid. Self-interest continues to determine how the world
reacts to ongoing mass murder and ethnic cleansing. Although the
SC approved selective sanctions, there is no evidence that any
of the punitive measures agreed have been imposed or enforced.
— The UK government remains reluctant
to put pressure on the government of Sudan over their continued
support for the Janjaweed in Darfur for fear of jeopardising the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Khartoum and Southern Sudan.
However, the success of the CPA will rest on the willingness of
the international community to hold the relevant parties to their
commitments. So far there is a failure to insist that Khartoum
fulfils its promises, thus risking the chances for long-term peace
in the region. Unless a much stronger line is taken with Khartoum
there is a risk the CPA will break down, compounding growing unrest
in other parts of Sudan.
In conversations with the Darfur delegation
to the Abuja talks, members of the Sudanese government freely
admit to feeling no pressure to act on Darfur from either the
international community or from their discussions with British
officials or ministers in particular. The current British policy
has therefore been a failure.
November 2005
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