OurPledge

Late last month the Enough Project and the Save Darfur Coalition published the second in a series of letters to President Obama “spelling out a practical roadmap to end the crisis in Sudan.”

It’s a must-read for those who want to know how the U.S. and other countries can help the people of Sudan right now. And for individual advocates, Enough and Save Darfur have also put out this concomitant activist brief.

It’s important to point out that the Obama administration has the answers right in front of them as far as Sudan is concerned. We know that the Sudanese government does not correct itself in the face of verbal condemnation alone.

What’s needed now is real pressure. A great starting point for President Obama and his foreign policy team would be to impose strong targeted sanctions against Khartoum’s senior leaders, along the lines of what Enough, Save Darfur, and other groups recommend:

“President Obama should work through or with selected members of the U.N. Security Council to bring a larger collection of nations on board with targeted sanctions against those most responsible for violence in Sudan, whether they are government or rebel actors. If the Security Council fails to pass these broader sanctions, then the new administration should build an international coalition to bring this pressure. Along with the ICC, these instruments can create much higher legal, financial, and political costs to those who are responsible for violence against civilians. If efforts to pass targeted sanctions through the Security Council fall short, a concerted effort should be made to work with the European Union to apply joint sanctions. In addition, the possibility of capital market sanctions for oil companies contracting with the Sudanese government should be explored.”