Experts discuss conflict in Sudan, need for mitigation

In early 2003, violence between non-Arab rebel groups and
government-supported Arab militias broke out in the Darfur region
of Sudan. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead,
more than 1.5 million displaced and 200,000 seeking refuge in the
neighboring country of Chad.

The “Crisis in Darfur, Sudan: Politics of Genocide and
Ethnic Cleansing” forum held Friday brought together four
experts to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The forum attracted more than 100 people and was co-sponsored by
the UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center and the UCLA
Globalization Research Center ““ Africa.

The speakers discussed inaction on the part of the international
community and the possible steps that can be taken to ameliorate
the situation.

“Not one punitive measure has been imposed on the
government of Sudan,” said John Prendergast, a special
adviser to the president at the International Crisis Group.

Prendergast said the members of the Sudanese government are
“pragmatic survivors,” and would change their behavior
if the international community applied pressure through an arms
embargo, travel restrictions, or by freezing the Sudanese
government’s assets abroad.

The other speakers further elaborated on this topic.

Jok Madut Jok, an associate professor in the department of
history at Loyola Marymount University, said Sudan is already under
sanctions, but these sanctions have not yielded many results.

The international community has to make it clear to the Sudanese
government what the punishments and rewards will be for its
actions, Jok said.

Serious action to address the problem has been difficult for the
United Nations Security Council due to China’s dependence on
Sudan for oil, said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the
Africa Division of Human Rights Watch.

China has veto power over the Council’s decisions as one
of its permanent members.

Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, a nation-wide
Africa advocacy organization, said the lack of action on the part
of the international community is due to a double standard that
values African lives less than European lives.

Booker said external intervention is needed because genocide is
usually carried out by a country’s own military and police
forces.

“You cannot expect the Sudanese government to be the force
that provides security for these people,” he said.

Though outside forces exist, some believe their size is not in
accordance with the situation.

Jok believes the 3,000 African troops provided by the African
Union are not going to bring the situation under control.

He said Sudan is roughly the same size as Iraq, where over one
hundred thousand U.S. troops are currently struggling to maintain
order.

Booker said the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council
have an obligation to intervene as signatories to the 1948
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide.

The convention defined the crime of genocide as systematic acts
intended to destroy a certain group of people in part or as a
whole.

Inaction debases the convention and the whole concept of
genocide, Booker said.