Enough Project Co-founder John Prendergast added, "The Obama administration is not leading a new peace process for Darfur; it is more energetically supporting a failed one. The United States must urgently lead a group of concerned nations, including Egypt and China, to offer sustained, high-level support for peace talks that focus on developing a draft peace proposal that addresses the core issues of the conflict and empowers the head mediator to reach a political settlement." . Enough Project, 8-27-09
Darfur Crisis: The Waters of Denial are Too Shallow to Hide the Nakedness of Either Special Envoy Gration or General Agwai, Let Alone Both of Them
By Richard Power
A.Q. Khan, who sold nuclear weapons secrets like poppies, has been freed from house arrest in Islamabad; meanwhile, Aung San Suu Kyi, whose only "crime" is remaining truly human in her unyielding resistance to an inhuman regime, is still under house arrest in Rangoon. Don't look for justice in this world; you will rarely glimpse it. Look for justice in the depth of your own being, than find a way to bring it forth.
Unfortunately a Nigerian general named Martin Luther Agwai has chosen instead to look into the shallows of denial, and has brought forth a self-serving lie.
Leaving his post as commander of the U.N./African Union "peacekeeping force" in Darfur, after what was by informed accounts a woefully ineffectual tour of duty, Agwai says the area is "no longer in a state of war."
Tell me, are the women and young girls of Darfur now free from the threat of repeated rape when they go out and gather fire wood in the environs of the refugee camps? No.
Indeed, are the refugee camps emptying out as the people of Darfur return to their homes? No.
Have those whose homes were burned by the Janjaweed or bombed by the Sudanese military been given stipends or materials to rebuild? Of course not.
And perhaps most important of all has Bashir, the INDICTED head of the Sudanese thugocracy, been brought to the International Criminal Court to answer for crimes against humanity which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands?
No, quite the contrary, Agwai has received a medal from Bashir.
Agwai's remarks, like his performance, would be a joke -- if we were not discussing genocide.
Ah, but there's the rub. Wasn't it just a month or so ago I was telling you about U.S. Special Envoy Gration’s misleading and ill-chosen remarks about the crisis?
During a press briefing ... [Gration] told reporters there is no genocide in Darfur but the "remnants of genocide.” The envoy’s remarks drew widespread criticism by Darfur advocacy groups … Sudan Tribune, 7-3-09
(See From Darfur, West Virginia, Downtown Jakarta, California & the Congo -- a Collective Cry for Freedom on Independence Day 2009)
If, as in the case of General Agwai, a person has proven to be embarrassingly incompetent, it is understandable to seek some face-saving spin.
Just as if, in the case of Gration and the Obama administration, a government finds that actually doing something meaningful would be geopolitically (and militarily) inconvenient, it is understandable that it would simply want to declare victory and go home.
But you and I choose to live with our eyes open, don’t we? We choose to embrace reality however painful; because only if our pain is real can our joy also be real.
The people of Darfur are still waiting for a few helicopters to protect them.
They are still waiting for a genuine peacekeeping force to guarantee their safety as they gather firewood.
They are still waiting for the great nations of the world to lead.
So are we.
(See also Why Hasn't Bill Clinton Been Arrested Yet; OK, I Will Rephrase the Question, Why Hasn't Bill Clinton Had Himself Arrested Yet (Darfur Crisis Update)
In this week’s Saturday morning radio address, the President addressed the still open wound of New Orleans, which resulted from the criminal neglect of the Bush-Cheney administration (my choice of words, not his). Maybe next week, President Obama will address the ONGOING Crisis in Darfur.
Here are excerpts from two important statements, one from the Enough Project, refuting the ridiculous remarks of General Agwai, the other an Open Letter to President Barack Obama, issued as part of Enough’s new campaign, Sudan Now: Keep the Promise [www.SudanActionNow.com.], calling on him to fulfill his promise.
The Enough Project at the Center for American Progress released the following statements today concerning the remarks of departing UNAMID commander Martin Luther Agwai, who declared, "As of today, I would not say there is a war going on in Darfur." Enough Project Executive Director John Norris noted, "The outgoing commander is correct that there has been a lull in fighting in Darfur, but he entirely misses the big picture in doing so. What he and others conveniently fail to mention: the three million Darfuris stuck in refugee and displaced camps unable to return to their homes because of insecurity and violence. Instead of offering self-congratulatory remarks, the entire international community should be appalled that after more than six years they have failed to create the conditions on the ground that would allow displaced people to return home by disarming the janjaweed, holding perpetrators of earlier war crimes accountable, securing a viable peace deal, and putting a credible peacekeeping force in place."
Enough Project Co-founder John Prendergast added, "The Obama administration is not leading a new peace process for Darfur; it is more energetically supporting a failed one. The United States must urgently lead a group of concerned nations, including Egypt and China, to offer sustained, high-level support for peace talks that focus on developing a draft peace proposal that addresses the core issues of the conflict and empowers the head mediator to reach a political settlement." . Enough Project, 8-27-09
As a Senator, presidential candidate, and now as President of the United States, you have spoken eloquently and firmly about America's responsibility and your personal devotion to help bring peace and stability to the people of Sudan. You've said that "silence, acquiescence and paralysis in the face of genocide is wrong;" advocated for "strong consequences" and "real pressures [to] be placed on the Sudanese government;" proclaimed that "Sudan is a priority for this administration;" and declared that "If we act, the world will follow." All that conviction, Mr. President, demands strong action.
The U.S. must: Lead a more effective and urgent peace process for Darfur; build an international coalition for strict implementation of the North-South peace deal; and implement a policy that creates real consequences for those who continue to attack civilians, block life-saving aid, undermine peace and obstruct justice ... Keep the Promise, Sudan Now
As always, I encourage you to follow events in Darfur on Mia Farrow's site, it is the real-time journal of a humanitarian at work; the content is compelling, insightful and fiercely independent.
For an archive of Words of Power posts on the Crisis in Darfur, click here.
Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.
Enough Project, Darfur, Sudan Genocide, Aung San Suu Kyi, A.G. Khan, Scott Gration Mia Farrow