OurPledge

In case you missed it

U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration claims — threatens, really — that the international community doesn’t have the capability to focus on the millions of Darfuris who have been violently displaced from their homes.

“There are going to be a lot of things that are keeping us from focusing on Darfur,” [Gration said.] “That’s why we have this little window where we really need to get the framework solidified.”

“…I think we are going to see a real big focus on the election,” Gration said. “There is not going to be a lot of bandwidth to be doing Darfur and negotiations.”

Read the full Washington Post article here.

Kony and the LRA Out of Darfur?

The notorious leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, has apparently left Darfur for the Central African Republic, Reuters reports.

The LRA had recently sought refuge in Western Sudan, alarming human rights watchdogs that have long documented the group’s penchant for murder, child slavery, and mass rape.

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Here’s one thing that struck me about this development. And it’s a part of the story that underlines what genocide has done to Western Sudan. According to Reuters, the LRA left Darfur because of the drastic food shortage there.

Not even brazen rebels — who steal and take whatever they want — can find daily sustenance in Darfur.

(Sudan) Letters to Obama

Tucked into a Washington Post story about President Obama’s daily ritual of reading letters from ordinary citizens:

“But [the] biggest job was to organize the mail into about 70 subject folders — an ever-changing list of categories that offers a barometer of the nation’s priorities. About half of the letters in February focused on health-care reform; about half last November focused on the war in Afghanistan. Six to 10 percent of all letters amount to fan mail for Obama, offering him support. Other regular categories include Global Warming, Faith and Politics, Gas Prices, Fort Hood, Death Penalty, Darfur, H1N1, Iran, Jobs, First Lady, Torture, From Inmates, POTUS Health and Single Parents.“

Darfur is on that list. Let’s hope the Sudan movement can continue flooding the White House with its appeals.

Using New Media for Social Good

Kudos! A nice video of Genocide Intervention Network’s Director of MembershipJanessa Goldbeck talking to CBS News:

New violence in Darfur

From The Christian Science Monitor:

“March 4, 2010 — One year ago Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, on charges of crimes against humanity. Now, on the first anniversary of the arrest warrant, fighting is raging in Darfur – the war-torn Sudanese province that is the source of much of the case against Mr. Bashir.”

“…On Wednesday, the US State Department issued a statement saying it is “extremely concerned” about reports of new government offensives against rebels in Darfur. According to United Nations officials, the result has been a new spike in civilian deaths.”

“Cavalier violations”

Reading the below, we wonder: Well, what is the U.S. going to do in the face of these violations?

Reuters, March 4, 2010 — “We know that weapons continue to flow into Darfur, acts of sexual and gender-based violence continue unabated and with impunity, military over-flights and offensive actions continue,” U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council.”

“A 2005 U.N. embargo bans the transfer of military hardware to Darfur, a remote region in western Sudan about the size of France. Khartoum can import arms, but not for use in Darfur.”

“The blatant disregard of the will of the council is undermining stability rather than fostering it, which was the aim of the [sanctions] regime in the first place,” Rice said.”

Ironic?

Astonishing. Somehow we missed this, but at last month’s UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, Sudan negotiator Lumumba Di-Aping compared a proposed climate change agreement to the Holocaust.

His words:

“It is asking Africa to sign a suicide pact, an incineration pact in order to maintain the economic dependence of a few countries…It is a solution based on values that funneled six million people in Europe into furnaces.”

This coming from an official whose government is responsible for perpetrating genocide against its own citizens.

Here’s the video:

A civil war in Sudan policy?

We think Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin hits all of the right points in his recent article about the Obama administration’s Sudan policy.

“Obama’s approach to Sudan has been hobbled from the beginning by deep divisions between senior officials — especially [Scott] Gration, the special envoy, and [Susan] Rice, the U.N. ambassador — on how best to handle Khartoum, sources said. Gration is said to be big on carrots, while Rice prefers sticks. [Deputy Secretary of State Jim] Steinberg is also said to lean towards a harder line, which the advocacy community also favors.”

“In 2006, Rice coauthored an article saying, “History demonstrates that there is one language Khartoum understands: the credible threat or use of force.’”

“ABC News reported that Rice was “furious” in June when Gration said that Darfur was experiencing only the “remnants of genocide.” The State Department quickly confirmed that its official position is that genocide is ongoing.”

Our thoughts: How is someone like Gration still controlling the Sudan portfolio? And why can’t the Obama administration execute a strong and coordinated Sudan policy?

Among other things, President Obama has promised to impose consequences (targeted multilateral sanctions, etc.) if the Sudanese government fails to improve conditions on the ground in both Darfur and Southern Sudan.

Well — those measurable improvements have not been seen. So what is President Obama waiting for now?

Georgetown and Duke students are awesome. That is all.

From Enough:

“In front of amped up students smeared with blue and gray paint, a sold-out arena, and President Obama and his entourage, students and alumni from Georgetown and Duke universities kicked off their partnership today with the Darfur Dream Team.”

“It was one of the most highly anticipated college basketball games of the season, made all the more exciting with the VIPs in the audience. But about 12 minutes into the game, all eyes turned toward the NBA’s Tracy McGrady, who flew in from Houston to lend his star-power to the launch of the joint project. McGrady, who co-founded the Darfur Dream Team with Enough’s John Prendergast after a trip together to Darfuri refugee camps in 2007, helped direct attention up to the Jumbotron, and here’s what they saw…”

What will they say about 2010?

We talk a lot here about the need to impose targeted multilateral sanctions against the Sudanese government’s senior leaders.

We first called for such action a few years ago. Now, in 2010, the Sudan movement’s bullhorn is still very much on — and we don’t think it’s worse for wear. Omar al-Bashir continues to kill Darfuris. He has decimated the medical support system for Sudanese rape victims. And he is rigging the upcoming national elections in Sudan in his favor. The voices of many Sudan activists might be tired, but we can’t stop now. Not while there is an urgent need to organize and speak out for the rights and dignity of millions of Sudanese citizens.

Pushing the U.S. government to “impose severe consequences” on the Sudanese government might appear too technocratic to some — why are activists demanding that the Obama administration take the narrow action of imposing asset freezes and travel bans against Sudan’s dictators, anyway? The answer, as Enough pointed out recently, has to do with practical precedent:

“These consequences [e.g., multilateral sanctions] that allegedly reside in the Obama administration’s confidential annex to its policy are the only instruments that can prevent an all-out national war in Sudan. Consequences, or the meaningful threat thereof, have altered the calculations and behavior of [Bashir's National Congress Party] in the past. They led to the expulsion of Osama bin Laden, the end to slave raiding and aerial bombing in the South, the acceleration of intelligence cooperation after 9/11, and the CPA itself.”

History is revealing here: we know that there is a policy strategy that has been effective in stopping impunity in Sudan on multiple occasions.

The primary issue at hand isn’t whether or not the Obama administration will heed the lessons of history, given the promises contained in its heavily (self-)advertised Sudan policy document. Rather, the issue is us: Will we (the OurPledge team included) step up and give our elected officials holy hell for not doing enough for the people of Sudan? We have great hope for a new year of intense activism, but ultimately, the extent and effectiveness of the Sudan movement’s work in 2010 aren’t guaranteed. The book hasn’t been written yet.

This inaugural new year’s post comes late, but we have to say: thank you for sticking with us. We look forward to working with you this year on behalf of the people of Sudan.