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Libert@s online: Issue 14
September - October 2004

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Canada and the nightmare in Darfur

Ending the terror, crimes against humanity and impunity

Rebel camps of Abu Gamrah and Jumaizah
Rebel camps of Abu Gamrah and Jumaizah
© middle-east-online.com



The month granted to the Sudanese government by the UN Security Council to re-establish security in Darfur has now come to an end.

Another month in which the Janjaweed militia, henchmen for the government in Khartoum, attacked black African communities in western Sudan, pillaged their meagre resources, destroyed their humble villages and drove hundreds of thousands of people toward the border of neighbouring Chad .

Another month of total negation of the most elementary protection and justice for these human beings, coralled in makeshift camps where everything is in short supply. Some say there has been some progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid to Darfur, but this cannot disguise the unacceptable reversal of priorities. Humanitarian aid cannot take the place of responsible policy - to put an end to the proliferation of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Humanitarian aid reflects the failure of an international policy that is supposed to and is ultimately incapable of putting an end the genocidal policies that currently prevail in Sudan .

One obvious fact emerges from the work of the Security Council and authorities in the African Union: the government in Khartoum has no intention of disarming the Janjaweed in Darfur . As the current diplomatic parody plays out, the worst atrocities continue to be committed.

Human security must be restored in Darfur, the terror eradicated, the criminals identified and prosecuted. The rights of the terrorized populations must be restored and they must be helped to rebuild their lives.

The Sudanese government must not be granted any new extensions. The Security Council must impose the strictest sanctions and dispatch a security and peace-keeping force to Darfur with the resources it needs to carry out this mission swiftly and authoritatively.

In a news release on July 30, Pierre Pettigrew, Canada 's new Minister of Foreign Affairs, said he welcomed "the intent of the Security Council to consider further actions under Article 41 of the UN Charter, which allows for sanctions, if the government of Sudan does not follow through on its commitments."

Canada must act accordingly.

The politics of pre-genocide, terror and the denial of the most fundamental rights to thousands of men and women call for a firm reaction, an unequivocal condemnation and an immediate, powerful and lasting intervention. No state should forgo its responsibility to protect its citizens. Countries like Sudan that take this route must be subject to a decisive intervention. Canada 's position should be decisive and pro-active, especially since the ever-deteriorating situation in the western part of the country will probably result in the failure of peace negotiations in the south of Sudan, which Canada supports.

Canada must form a coalition with other countries with the goal of taking forceful action in conjunction with the UN Security Council. The Council must assume its responsibilities in order to bring an end to the violence, terror and impunity. In so doing, Canada would be combining its fine tradition as a peace-keeping partner with the "famous Canadian values" so often cited in its foreign policy statements.

Jean-Louis Roy
President, Rights & Democracy

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