Building off of Michelle’s great post on the matter:
It looks like the White House has finally replied to some Sudan activists’ letters, faxes, emails, and phone calls. The key excerpt from the Administration’s email response:
As President, I will build on America’s efforts that I previously championed in the Senate. I led in calling for the joint African Union/United Nations peacekeeping force now on the ground, and insisted on comprehensive sanctions against the Khartoum government. Going forward, my Administration will continue this work with unstinting resolve to end the genocide.”
“In my discussions with other nations, I will work to ensure that tough sanctions on the Khartoum government continue as a part of a growing global effort involving our allies, interested countries, and other multilateral institutions.”
As others have pointed out, the policy promised here is the opposite of the approach that President Obama’s Sudan Envoy, General Scott Gration, is trying out right now on the Government of Sudan. Asked in a television interview recently about the sticks that the U.S. is considering using against Khartoum, General Gration said, “Well, right now we are looking at carrots.”
What’s going on here? What accounts for such inconsistency?
I don’t think that anyone outside of the Administration can answer these questions with absolute certainty, but in any case it’s not the job of Sudan advocates to completely unwrap political motivations and demystify layers of bureaucracy. What we do know is this: on paper, President Obama is right. Comprehensive sanctions are necessary, exactly because Omar al-Bashir and his cronies can’t be trusted to act positively out of good faith alone. Only targeted economic punishment and military pressure can change the mindsets and actions of Sudan’s genocidal perpetrators.
Our request to all who have received this reply from the Obama Administration: Call the White House hotline (202.456.1111) and deliver this clear message: “President Obama, I urge you to end genocide and promote peace in Sudan immediately. Among other things, please impose targeted multilateral sanctions on the Sudanese government’s senior leaders.”
