Powell and Annan are getting the runaround in Sudan....already.
EL FASHER, Sudan (Reuters) - The Sudanese government has disappointed Secretary of State Colin Powell in talks on the crisis in the troubled western region of Darfur, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday. Powell, on the second day of a visit to Sudan, arrived in Darfur Wednesday for a first-hand look at some of the million people displaced by marauding Arab militias in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. He has threatened unspecified U.N. Security Council action if Khartoum does not crack down on the militias, known locally as the Janjaweed, and streamline relief work in the region. But a senior U.S. official said that in Powell's initial talks the Sudanese did not realize the gravity of the crisis. "They are in a state of denial. They are in a state of avoidance. They are trying to obfuscate and avoid any consequences," said the official, who asked not to be named. To add to the international pressure, the United States plans to share the draft of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Darfur with other members in New York Wednesday, he added.
In the meantime, the UN Security Council is doing it's usual strong language thing:
UNITED NATIONS - The United States wants the United Nations (news - web sites) to impose an arms embargo and travel ban on Arab militias blamed for a humanitarian crisis in Sudan's western Darfur region, where more than 1 million people have fled their homes. The proposed U.N. resolution, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, does not call for any action against the Sudanese government, which the United States and humanitarian groups accuse of backing the militias, known as the Janjaweed. But the U.S. draft would put the U.N. Security Council on record expressing "its determination to do everything possible to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, including by taking further action if required." Philippines U.N. Ambassador Lauro Baja, the current Security Council president, said the resolution should send "a strong signal to the government" that it needs to take action. The release of the resolution was timed to the visit Wednesday to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Secretary of State Colin Powell, Baja said.
Forgive me for questioning the intelligence of the members of the Security Council, but wtf? An arms and travel embargo directed at the Arab militias?
Woooh. I know my knees are knocking! The militias must be absolutely
terrified at the thought of having their guns and travel cut off by the
UN! What a horrifying prospect! /sarcasm.
The one word that could do a world of difference in this matter is the
one word that no one---particularly not at the UN---wants to say. That
word is "genocide" and we're back to the same old "is it or isn't it"
quibbling that happened with Rwanda. How many people have to die before
the UN does more than introducing "strongly worded" resolutions to the
Security Council? Food aid and humanitarian crises aside for a moment,
the real problem here is that people are being killed for no more than
the color of their skin. They are being raped and pillaged and
terrorized. What's more, my friends, is that the raping and pillaging
is being supported by the legally recognized government of Sudan.
These would be the same people that Kofi and Colin are chatting with.
These are the same people who apparently don't see the problem in the
same light that we do. This situation is reminiscent of the mammoth
pink elephant who's plopped himself down in the middle of the living
room and everyone is determined to ignore his presence, even though
they can't see or talk around him.
The proposed resolution calls on the Sudanese government
"to cease all military attacks in Darfur, disarm and neutralize the
Janjaweed militias ... protect civilians ... cooperate fully with all
humanitarian relief organizations and provide them unrestricted and
sustained access for the provision of humanitarian relief." The draft
endorses the deployment of international monitors from the African
Union to Darfur and asks Annan to send U.N. human rights monitors as
well and "to consider what other measures may be needed to avoid a
humanitarian catastrophe." It would authorize an arms embargo on the
Janjaweed as well as a ban on military training. It would also impose a
travel ban on Janjaweed militia members whose names are on a list that
would be compiled by a new Security Council committee to monitor the
sanctions. Baja said the draft has not yet been introduced to the
Security Council, though some members have been given copies.
What's surprising me is that this is a US written resolution. Quite frankly, I'm seriously disappointed. We can do better. We must
do better. The US government has promised we will not have peace in
southern Sudan on the backs of those in Darfur, but the fact they
didn't go farther here by at least mentioning what the
government is doing tells me that they're trying not to step on too
many toes. It's a rough situation to be in, no doubt. We've blown a lot
of capital at the UN with Iraq. It had to be done, don't get me wrong,
but it's hampering us right now, and we're stuck with strongly worded
resolutions that don't do a thing about the people who are supplying
the guns and the air support, but say a whole lot about a group of
people we have no hopes of regulating. It's meaningless in real terms.
The fact the words are being written in the first place is important, I
know. That's not slipping past me. But it doesn't mean a damn thing in
the real world. It may open doors, but are they the right doors? Are
they doors we need to open? Are they doors that by opening them the
problem will be solved? The real question here is not if the people of
the south are going to have peace on the backs of those in Darfur: it's
if the people of Iraq are having a chance at peace and prosperity on
the backs of those in Darfur.
I sincerely hope there's some grand strategy here that I'm missing, but
if this is it, well, I'm not too impressed. Superman has never been
more naked than he is right now.