Maggie Fick and Laura Heaton from the Enough Project policy team contributed to this post.
The Obama administration will complete its Sudan policy review very soon and go public with its approach for addressing the multiple crises in Sudan, namely the rapidly deteriorating state of the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the unresolved conflict in Darfur. The Obama administration's internal policy review, which began in March, has dragged on for months.
Given the enormously high stakes in Sudan -- a national election, largely funded by the U.S., slated for April next year that could dissolve into violence, and a referendum in 2011 that will give the South the chance to vote to become an independent country -- it's critically important that the Obama administration strike the right tone and substance in its policy and diplomatic strategy toward Sudan, at a time when the country could easily slide back into a hot war within the next 18 months.
Enough, along with the other organizations leading the ongoing Sudan Now campaign, sent an open letter to President Obama today that underlines the major problem that we see with the administration's emerging policy. The letter notes that "while an internal U.S. government agreement on tactical pressures and incentives has been reached, the broader diplomatic strategy through which these pressures and incentives will be enforced is fundamentally flawed." Enough and our partners in the Sudan Now campaign believe that significant alterations in the emerging U.S. approach to Sudan are necessary and urgent. We call on key members of the Cabinet -- namely Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice -- to intervene now to prevent the administration from signing, sealing, and delivering the problematic policies that the U.S. has begun to implement.
Some trends we are seeing in Sudan lend support to the argument for a change in strategy from the Obama administration:
And on the two hot-button issues, the Obama administration's approach so far is problematic:
NORTH-SOUTH: The Obama administration should be creating a cost for failure to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Instead of creating clear consequences for those who obstruct and undermine peace in Sudan, the administration is renegotiating the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The United States must urgently work to forge an international coalition that constructs a set of genuine consequences for failing to implement what has already been negotiated. Any effort by the parties to arm militias is absolutely unacceptable. Consequences must apply to spoilers in either the North or the South and include tougher economic sanctions targeted at senior officials and affiliated businesses, increased diplomatic isolation, an expanded arms embargo, and increased support for the International Criminal Court's work in Sudan.
DARFUR: The Obama administration should be building and playing a lead role in a revitalized internationally-backed peace process for Darfur. The existing process has not generated a comprehensive proposal that addresses the root causes of the conflict and lacks popular support from Darfuri civil society. The United States must urgently lead a group of concerned nations -- including Egypt and China -- to offer sustained, high-level support and leverage to peace talks that focus on developing a draft peace proposal that addresses the core issues of the conflict and empowers the head mediator, backed by U.S. diplomatic support, to reach a political settlement. From day one of this new peace process, the United States must ensure that Darfuri civil society groups are directly engaged and that displaced camp residents are involved in all negotiations.
As we noted in the conclusion of the open letter, President Obama's must realize that he is in precedent-setting mode now:
President Obama's handling of this crisis -- one which he characterizes as genocide with respect to Darfur -- is being watched around the globe, including the darkest corners where people without conscience may be planning the next genocide or mass atrocity. As South Sudan slides back toward war, and the stakes grow higher still, the world waits for President Obama's response.
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History has proven, time and time again, that Western (read of Greco\Roman tradition) intervention in Africa has proven to be disastreous and counterproductive. I have just finished reading Martin Meredith's "The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence" and it is a tragic read.
Perhaps, if the West understood the nuances of tribal life, the importantce of leaders and elders, the significance of traditions and the cosmovision of a non-Greco/Roman culture, we would have a chance at understanding and helping Sudan and other African nations. We have propped, aided and abaited all kinds of nefarious leaders in the name of "Democracy" in a culture for whom Democracy is a totally foreign concept. Not only is not understood, it is mostly misused by the Frankesteins we have put in power in its name.
The idea that only Western powers can fix this situation is both naive and ignorant. Change comes from within, not imposed from without. Economic sanctions mean little to those that have nothing and are always circumvented by those with power.
Watch Biden when he speaks of and FOR Darfur...listen.
I don't know a lot of things, especially details of issues and policy, but I know Biden walks his talk like few others. My money will be on the vice president if he has influence. I believe in President Obama's heart. I hope, the Obama-Biden Administration will do right by Sudan's Darfur. It hurts to even think about it failing.
And, I'll look forward to reading your analysis of, and your response to, this new policy review.