Unprecedented activism has little impact in Darfur

Despite unprecedented global activism on behalf of the people of Darfur in 2006, atrocities continue to occur daily in the region. Since it began in February 2003, the violence sponsored by the Sudanese government and perpetrated by its janjaweed militias has claimed at least 400,000 lives, displaced 2.5 million people and left more than 3.5 million men, women and children struggling to survive amid violence and starvation, according to the UN. "The tremendous activism we've seen in 2006 sends a powerful message to world leaders that the atrocities being perpetrated by the Sudanese government will not be tolerated," said David Rubenstein, executive director of the Save Darfur Coalition. The coalition says it represents 130,000,000 people in more than 175 faith-based, humanitarian and educational member organizations, which include Amnesty International, American Jewish World Service, American Society for Muslim Advancement, Genocide Intervention Network and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The coalition received more than $4.3 million last year in donations. This enables it to place high-profile advertisements detailing the situation in Darfur on television, in The New York Times and in other publications as part of their Advocacy and Education Campaign. The amount of donations is increasing dramatically, Colleen Connors of the coalition told IPS. For example, in the month of October 2005, donations totaled $17,000. One year later, in October 2006, $580,000 was collected, she said. In 2006, more than one million postcards were sent to President Bush in support of a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur and more than 75,000 activists gathered at the coalition's rallies in Washington and New York City, Connors added. Despite this remarkable outpouring of support, there has been little impact in Darfur. "The US embargo on economic investment in Sudan has not stopped American companies like Fidelity and Berkshire Hathaway from investing," said Gita Zomrodi of American Jewish World Services, a member of the coalition. These investments have contributed to a booming economy in the country, which has emboldened the government, she said. In addition to the calculated attempt to starve the population of Darfur, reports reveal daily violent attacks on villages. The connection between the janjaweed and the Sudanese government remains strong, according to the report of a UN panel of experts released late last year. "The janjaweed armed militias appear to have upgraded their modus operandi from horses, camels and AK-47s to Land Cruisers, pickup trucks and rocket-propelled grenades," according to the report. Nothing has changed in Sudan's position on UN peacekeepers despite the fact that the US and UN have hailed Sudanese "acceptance" of a hybrid operation as a success. At the end of last year, Sudan appeared to capitulate to international pressure, but only days later, Khartoum made clear that it has not changed its position and will only accept an African force and African leadership of a UN-African Union (AU) operation. Khartoum has continued to emphasize that any operation should place the government of Sudan on equal footing with the AU and UN in organizing the initiative and provide Khartoum with veto power. However, on Jan. 8, presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail said the AU commander in Darfur could decide to send non-African troops to the violent region if the continent could not provide enough soldiers needed to preserve security. When asked whether there will be UN troops on the ground in Darfur, he told Reuters: "You are right." But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir rebuffed calls for UN peacekeeping troops in war-ravaged Darfur in comments he made on Jan. 10. "Our experience with UN operations in the world is not encouraging," al-Bashir said. "The government is just playing time to survive," said Adeeb A. Yousif, of the Sudan Social Development Organization. "It has been two years since former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited Darfur and said we have to solve this problem today not tomorrow, yet nothing has happened," said Yousif, who works on the ground in Darfur. Africa Action, the oldest US organization working on African affairs, welcomed the stated commitment of new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to prioritizing Darfur, and noted new diplomatic overtures on the part of the US, aimed at advancing new action on this crisis. However, the group emphasized the urgency of the situation on the ground and the ongoing deadlock between the Sudanese government and the international community on the size and composition of a peacekeeping force. Nii Akuetteh, executive director of Africa Action, said that "Despite hopeful media reports, there has been no diplomatic breakthrough on Darfur and the death toll is continuing to mount. The international community has capitulated to Khartoum's opposition to a UN force, and the people of Darfur have been abandoned to the growing violence on the ground." "The UN Security Council must stand up to the Sudanese government now, and pursue the deployment of the robust UN peacekeeping force authorized by Resolution 1706 last August," he said. UN Security Council Resolution 1706 authorizes 22,500 UN peacekeepers for Darfur, yet not one has set foot on the ground thus far.