Darfur, the Suffering continues by Elrayah H. Khalifa

05:11 AM October, 11 2016

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In September, 29 2016; a report from Amnesty International stunned the world, by revealing evidence about the use of chemical weapons in Darfur, Sudan. The report says: “An Amnesty International investigation has gathered horrific evidence of the repeated use of what are believed to be chemical weapons against civilians, including very young children, by Sudanese government forces in one of the most remote regions of Darfur over the past eight months.” However, this move is not surprising for those who are familiar with the Sudanese government (SG) and its continuing violation of human rights and its trampling not only on the international law but also on the Resolutions of the Security Council (SC)
It is now thirteen years since the story of Darfur unfolded. All the attempts of the International Community to resolve this conflict have been futile. As for the people of Darfur, they still live in hell; between the hammer of a corrupt, immoral and unmerciful government and the anvil of a weak, interest-driven and indecisive international community. The people of Darfur, whose villages haven been burned, their livestock eliminated, their wells destroyed and were forced out of their homes to live in camps in neighboring countries are helplessly awaiting restitution from the International Community. The United Nations and other International Organizations, who handled this conflict, had their share in contributing to the prolongation of this conflict. Instead of spending their resources in accommodating those three million refugees in camps, for some thirteen years, they could have utilized these resources to resolve the problems of Darfur, once and for all and resettle them in their homes.
Many resolutions have been passed by the Security Council (SC), to resolve the issue of Darfur. However, SG defiantly disregards these resolutions. The SC started, by kindly urging the SG to better the humanitarian conditions and to protect the civilians, against attacks from the Janjaweed militia. But the SG did exactly the opposite and escalated the conflict in the area. Seeing that their decisions were not honored, the SC passed resolution 1564 to include practical steps of ending the state of impunity by arresting the Janjaweed militias and anyone who was responsible for human rights abuses. The resolution further established a Commission of Inquiry to investigate violations of international crimes. But the SG has never implemented any of the SC resolutions; on the contrary it continued to defy the International Community and treat its decisions with open contempt. Even so, and notwithstanding the declaration of the United States Congress unanimously; that Sudan had committed genocide against the people of Darfur, SC could not step up to its role. World public opinion was laudable to continually place the issue of Darfur on the spotlight, putting overriding pressure on the United Nations to urgently act to save those expendable beings in Darfur. Only then the SC passed resolution 1591; in which it decided to impose a travel ban and assets freeze on those impeding the peace process, and committing human rights violations. The resolution also condemns the failure of the government to disarm militiamen and apprehend and bring to justice Janjaweed leaders and their associates; who had carried out human rights and international humanitarian law violations and other atrocities.
By that time the report of the International Commission of Inquiry on violation on international humanitarian and human rights law was concluded. It revealed that the SG committed international crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report did not only reveal the massive crimes committed by the government, but it further added blocking of humanitarian aid to the victims; a move which was later characterized by the court prosecutor as genocide by attrition. In light of this report, the SC passed resolution 1593. The Council determined that the situation in Darfur continued to constitute a threat to international peace and security; as such acting under Chapter V11 of the Charter of the United Nations decided to refer the situation in Darfur to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. After careful investigations , the International Criminal Court had issued arrest warrants against two accused; Ahmad Harun, former Minister of State for the Interior of the Sudan, and Ali Kushayb, a Janjaweed leader who had committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. However, in a deliberate disregard to the resolution of the SC and in an open affront to all its decisions; the SG refused to honor the SC decisions. Instead of looking into the allegations of the Commission and investigate these serious crimes, the SG interrogated one of the accused briefly and set him free for lack of evidence. As for the second one; the government claimed that there was no prima facie case against him either. On July 14, 2008 the Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court alleged that Omer al-Bashir, the President of Sudan bore individual criminal responsibility for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed since 2003 in Darfur. However, President of Sudan was able to maneuver his way and evade justice until this day.
Now the international community is witnessing; while this war is continuing and the SG forces are shelling the civilians in Darfur and other areas in Western Sudan. All the world attention is on the Middle East and the black Africans in Darfur are being totally ignored, while the government is murdering them in masses. The report of Amnesty International stated that “The scale and brutality of these attacks is hard to put into words. The images and videos we have seen in the course of our research are truly shocking.” The report goes to say: “Hundreds more survived attacks but in the hours and days after exposure to the chemicals developed symptoms including severe gastrointestinal conditions involving bloody vomiting and diarrhea; blistering and rashes on skin which reportedly hardened, changed color and fell off; eye problems including complete loss of vision; and respiratory problems which were reported to be the most common cause of death.”
One could not imagine that the SG has been using these weapons for about eight months, in which they were able to inflict unspectacled harm on the victims of Darfur, without being discovered; despite the sophisticated technology of the satellites, which is monitoring these conflict zones. As the SG is one of the signatories to the Chemical Weapon Convention (CWC); there is a legal obligation for which it should be held accountable. Article 1 of this convention provides the following: “Each State Party to this Convention undertakes never under any circumstances: (b) To use chemical weapons; (c) To engage in any military preparations to use chemical weapons; d) To assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention.
Therefore, and based on these unequivocal facts and the concrete evidence adduced by the Amnesty International; there is no excuse for the International Community but to act, and do so urgently and swiftly to stop this ghastly attacks against the weakening victims of Darfur and other Western parts of Sudan. People of the world, and in particular developing countries, no longer pin their hopes on Superpowers. The case of Darfur was, and still is a good example of how a Superpower, like China, held its business in close proximity to where these offensives took place. Despite its deep knowledge about SG’ criminal acts against its people, China, shamelessly, refused to support any measures taken by the International Community against the SG, visa-vie the conflict in Darfur.
People of Darfur and the other Western parts of Sudan wake up every day to the sound of the bombs, the scorched earth and the poisoned air. All one can see there, according to Amnesty report are; babies screaming with pain before dying, young children vomiting. These heartbreaking spectacles should motivate the International Community to take action, before the SG annihilates the rest of them. On behalf of all those people; I do urge the Obama administration, the Congress of the United to honor their commitment and fulfil their obligation under the Chemical Weapon Convention, of which United States and Sudan are signatories. I do urge them to put great pressure on the SG and hold them accountable for these heinous crimes.
Thank you
Elrayah H. Khalifa [email protected] Monterey California



أبرز عناوين سودانيز اون لاين صباح اليوم الموافق 10 أكتوبر 2016

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