Reflecting on Four Years of Security Council Action on Darfur
Last week marked the solemn four-year anniversary since the Security Council first took up the atrocities in Darfur. It provides a moment to contemplate actions taken by the Council and the international community to bring an end to the violence. U.N. agencies and humanitarian organizations have done impressive work, at great cost, to provide basic necessities to civilians caught in the midst of the conflict. However, achievement of a sustainable peace in Darfur has been marred by continued violence and multiple political setbacks orchestrated by the Sudanese government and supported within the Security Council by Sudan’s chief ally, China.
The Security Council can only be as effective as its powerful permanent five members—including China—allow it to be. There can be no question that to date China has been instrumental in ensuring that the Security Council has failed to do all it can to stop the violence in Darfur. After all, China has weakened nine out of fourteen resolutions addressing Darfur in the Council.
Reflecting on the four-year anniversary, the Secretary General said “The situation [in Darfur] remains grim today, as then, if not worse. Violence targeting civilians, including women and girls, continues at alarming levels with no accountability, or end, in sight.” The international community should meet such an observation with particular alarm, but instead it has come to be expected when discussing Darfur.
Privately, U.N. staff and diplomats who have worked to resolve crisis for four long years speak of “Darfur fatigue”. Even though billions of dollars have been invested in trying resolve the conflict, civilians continue to be killed and displaced from their homes by the thousands. “Shame” is perhaps a more apt term to describe the mood towards Darfur than “fatigue”. Once again the promise of “never again” is proving to be empty rhetoric as the government of Sudan continues—with the support of Janjaweed militia—to wreak havoc in Darfur while the international community is stalled from taking action.
Last July, the Security Council passed a legally binding resolution that authorized the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID). Slatted for 26,000 troops, UNAMID is meant to be the largest peacekeeping effort in the history of the U.N. But the latest Secretary General’s report on UNAMID reveals that only about one-third of the peacekeepers are actually operating in the region. This failure speaks more to the Sudanese government’s knack for obstructionism, and the Security Council’s failure to concretely respond to those obstructions, than to the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations’ inability to get boots on the ground in Darfur. And while the government of Sudan gets closer to securing UNAMID’s failure, China continues to ship weapons to Sudan that help sustain the violence in Darfur.
The Beijing Olympic torch is currently traversing the globe, carrying with it a message of peace and harmony. But there is nothing peaceful about China’s decision to continue to supply arms to Sudan when it knows those weapons are being used to commit atrocities in Darfur. This does not have to be the case, of course. China clearly has the power to stop its arms sales to Sudan and it can absolutely stop impeding the Security Council from taking robust action to end the atrocities in Darfur.
The Chinese government is unlikely to take such actions without strong, persistent pressure placed on it by governments like the United States and the United Kingdom, and by institutions such as the African Union and the European Union. The question remains whether these governments and institutions have the political will to pressure China. Meanwhile, there is no question that the government of Sudan will continue to take advantage of international political inertia around Darfur by continuing its campaign of death and destruction in the region.
The Security Council can only be as effective as its powerful permanent five members—including China—allow it to be. There can be no question that to date China has been instrumental in ensuring that the Security Council has failed to do all it can to stop the violence in Darfur. After all, China has weakened nine out of fourteen resolutions addressing Darfur in the Council.
Reflecting on the four-year anniversary, the Secretary General said “The situation [in Darfur] remains grim today, as then, if not worse. Violence targeting civilians, including women and girls, continues at alarming levels with no accountability, or end, in sight.” The international community should meet such an observation with particular alarm, but instead it has come to be expected when discussing Darfur.
Privately, U.N. staff and diplomats who have worked to resolve crisis for four long years speak of “Darfur fatigue”. Even though billions of dollars have been invested in trying resolve the conflict, civilians continue to be killed and displaced from their homes by the thousands. “Shame” is perhaps a more apt term to describe the mood towards Darfur than “fatigue”. Once again the promise of “never again” is proving to be empty rhetoric as the government of Sudan continues—with the support of Janjaweed militia—to wreak havoc in Darfur while the international community is stalled from taking action.
Last July, the Security Council passed a legally binding resolution that authorized the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID). Slatted for 26,000 troops, UNAMID is meant to be the largest peacekeeping effort in the history of the U.N. But the latest Secretary General’s report on UNAMID reveals that only about one-third of the peacekeepers are actually operating in the region. This failure speaks more to the Sudanese government’s knack for obstructionism, and the Security Council’s failure to concretely respond to those obstructions, than to the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations’ inability to get boots on the ground in Darfur. And while the government of Sudan gets closer to securing UNAMID’s failure, China continues to ship weapons to Sudan that help sustain the violence in Darfur.
The Beijing Olympic torch is currently traversing the globe, carrying with it a message of peace and harmony. But there is nothing peaceful about China’s decision to continue to supply arms to Sudan when it knows those weapons are being used to commit atrocities in Darfur. This does not have to be the case, of course. China clearly has the power to stop its arms sales to Sudan and it can absolutely stop impeding the Security Council from taking robust action to end the atrocities in Darfur.
The Chinese government is unlikely to take such actions without strong, persistent pressure placed on it by governments like the United States and the United Kingdom, and by institutions such as the African Union and the European Union. The question remains whether these governments and institutions have the political will to pressure China. Meanwhile, there is no question that the government of Sudan will continue to take advantage of international political inertia around Darfur by continuing its campaign of death and destruction in the region.
posted by Eric Sears at
3:24 PM
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