On 19 March 2011, a coalition of seventeen states led by France and the United Kingdom commenced military action in Libya to enforce United Nations Security Council resolution 1973. The action was taken in response to the Gaddafi regime’s attempts to suppress peaceful protests by means which have included the discharging of live ammunition into crowds of protesters by ground forces and helicopters.
The resolution adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter (S/RES/1973) empowered the coalition to amongst others, impose a no-fly zone over Libya and to use all necessary means to protect civilians in the process; further, the resolution demanded an immediate ceasefire and a cessation of attacks on civilians. In addition, an arms embargo was imposed on the regime, as well as an asset freeze on assets owned by Libyan authorities.
The United Nations (UN) and the coalition’s actions are clearly at odds with global response to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan which has lasted longer than the Second World War. Some may argue that the actions of the UN display selectivity and inconsistency in their approach to tackling circumstances and situations where mass crimes such as crimes against humanity and genocide et al are alleged to have been committed or are being committed. Hence the cries that the crises which led to the Libya intervention is no dissimilar from the suppression in Syria, the events which have occurred in recent times in Zimbabwe or the genocide, as recognised by the UN Human Rights Council, in Darfur, Sudan.
According to the UN, the war in Darfur has claimed more than 400.000 lives and has displaced over 2,500,000 people. The war mushroomed from decades-long conflicts between African farmers and nomadic tribes. In 2003 however, two rebel groups – The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) - became engaged in an armed struggle against the government claiming that the government had left its people defenceless against Arab attackers and further claims that the African constituents of the country had been marginalised by the Arab dominated government. The government in response procured the services of armed Arab militia, locally referred to as ‘Janjaweed ‘which translates into ‘devils on horsebacks’.
The UN and the international community as a whole have failed to summon the willpower equivalent to that exhibited lately in toppling the Libya regime with regard to the Darfur crisis. To date the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) indictment of the country’s leader, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Sudanese Minister of State for the Interior, Ahmad Hasan and the Janjaweed militia leader, Ali Kashayb for mass crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and rape remains the most significant step taken by the international community to protect Darfur. Critics may even argue that the ICC’s arrest warrant is a token gesture given that the warrant has not been enforced, that the court’s jurisdiction is not accepted by many countries, and that questions regarding the court’s legitimacy are unstinting.
Recent reports of further human rights abuses committed by the government of Sudan in Darfur give further cause for alarm. In its 28-page report, “Darfur in the Shadows: The Sudanese Government’s Ongoing Attacks on Civilians and Human Rights”, the NGO, Human Rights Watch reported “a surge in government-led attacks on populated areas and a campaign of aerial bombing which had killed and injured scores of civilians, destroyed property and displaced more than 70,000”. Human Rights Watch also surmised, from their interviews of witnesses and victims of the attacks, government officials, villagers and displaced persons, that the crimes were unequivocally linked to government forces or militia working in tandem with the government.
It is impossible to explain the UN and the international community’s staggered response to the conflict in Darfur while it has reacted unreservedly and with unprecedented consensus in deposing Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal regime. Of course the majority of observers would prefer a peaceful resolution to the crisis, possibly one which involves something similar to the January 2011 referendum which saw the South of Sudan overwhelmingly vote in favour of becoming a self-governing nation. It is however unlikely that the government of Sudan would readily relent thus making Darfur the world’s newest country, the 55th African nation, the 194th UN member state and the 197th country of the world. It is clear that intervention, akin to that of Libya is long overdue based on the mass crimes of genocide wantonly perpetrated by the government and which has been recognised by the UN as such. In the alternative, it will be left for the international community and the UN to explain why what is good for Libya has as yet, not been deemed good enough for the Dafuri people.
No comments:
Post a Comment