G8 Leaders: Take action against arms in Darfur

Today marks the opening of the G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan. The agenda this year is filled with a host of critically important issues including soaring food prices and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. African development is also featuring prominently on the agenda and in that context Human Rights First, along with more than 40 other organizations, is urging the G8 to make a definitive statement on the situation in Sudan, and Darfur in particular.

A perfect storm is brewing in Darfur. Since the beginning of the year, violence orchestrated by the Government of Sudan has killed scores of civilians and at least 190,000 people have been displaced from their homes, many for the second and third time. Darfur is home of the world’s largest humanitarian operation, and humanitarian workers are increasingly facing violent attacks. During the first five months of 2008, 160 humanitarian vehicles in Darfur were hijacked and eight humanitarian workers have been killed. With the rainy season now in full swing, the movement of life-saving humanitarian aid in Darfur will be further delayed and malnutrition will rise.

Meanwhile, the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the bloody decades long civil war between North and South Sudan might completely unravel. Should this happen, experts agree that it will make the crisis in Darfur seem comparatively tame. In May, tensions over the oil-rich border region that straddles North and South Sudan, called Abyei, finally boiled over when fighting erupted between soldiers from the north and south. The violence left some 65,000 people homeless. While a new ceasefire has been agreed to in Abyei, it is tenuous at best and will require a great deal of vigilance by the international community.

New international commitments are needed towards Darfur and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) must be put on diplomatic life support before it collapses. The G8 could do much good in helping to resolve these crises on multiple fronts. Such action begins by issuing a statement at the Hokkaido Summit that includes concrete commitments for action on Darfur and Sudan more broadly.

Human Rights First has been told by a well placed official whose government is a part of the G8 that the G8 will make formal comments on the situation on Sudan and Darfur. Topics expected to be covered include: the deployment of international peacekeeping force in Darfur (called UNAMID), the peace process in Darfur, implementation of the CPA, and justice and accountability for atrocities committed in Darfur. However, it is not clear that G8 members will condemn violations to the United Nations Security Council authorized Darfur arms embargo. All parties to the conflict in Darfur, including the Government of Sudan, have persistently violated the Darfur arms embargo with little consequence from the international community.

It is clear that the Government of Sudan has little incentive to cooperate with UNAMID or take a peace process seriously in Darfur so long as it has the weapons needed to kill, displace, rape and maim civilians. G8 countries should announce they will halt all arms sales to the Government of Sudan, as some have already done, and insist other governments shipping arms to Sudan to do the same.

The international community, and in particular the Security Council, has systematically failed to enforce the Darfur arms embargo. This has helped to fuel the conflict in Darfur, which has ruined the lives of millions of people. The G8 has an important opportunity during its summit to help break the political inertia surrounding the Darfur arms embargo by speaking out against violations to it and taking steps to help ensure the embargo respected. The question remains if G8 leaders have the political will to do so.