Daily Darfur: Minister of International What?

by Michelle

Published November 30, 2008 @ 12:52PM PT

Check this: Sudanese Minister for International Co-operation (and by "cooperation," surely they mean "obfuscation") Tijani Fedial praised Qatar for its initiative to "solve the Darfur problem." Exactly what this praise means, coming from the main source of the problem, is open for interpretation. (Because I like facetious metaphors and analogies, I have an image in my head of a playground bully using one hand to shake and make nice with the principal while continuing to punch a helpless kid with the other.)

Meanwhile, John Holmes, the UN's top humanitarian official (and, from what others have told me, one of the UN's best and brightest), warned that the situation in Darfur is becoming increasingly dangerous:

"The longer this conflict goes on, the more dangerous it becomes in terms of the ability to return to normality as it was before," Holmes said, after a six-day visit to the region.

"The environment becomes ever more politicized and more difficult to operate in, and what is happening there in the camps and elsewhere becomes more difficult to unravel.
"Above all, what we need to see in Darfur is a rapid political progress, a rapid political settlement... only that will enable the kind of progress we want to make in terms of development in Darfur."

In a prime example of the politicization of humanitarian aid in Darfur, a UN official spoke to Reuters about the government crackdown on aid agencies believed to be aiding the International Criminal Court:

"There has been really severe intimidation...NGOs are in a state of shock in South Darfur," said a senior U.N. officer.

"They have been able to intimidate international and national staff into going into computers, open their private emails -- Gmail, Hotmail. (The officials are saying) if you don't give me your password, you won't get out of this country."

(Most aid workers have to apply for exit visas every time they want to leave Sudan.)

Perhaps Mr. Holmes, et.al., will be happy to know that the President Sarkozy of France told Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to knock it off.

In other news of delusion: In the first joint meeting held by UNAMID and the Government of Sudan's Darfur Security Integrated Task Force (as reported here by Sudan Watch), the head of the government delegation expressed a commitment to the ceasefire declared by al-Bashir earlier this month:

"Head of the GoS delegation, General Salah Abdullah reiterated his government's commitment to the cessation of hostilities announced by the President and expressed keenness to see all parties committed to that."

Curious, considering that UN investigators already determined the government violated its own ceasefire before Bashir could even catch his breath after the declaration.

[Photo by Brian Steidle: Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Menawashi, Darfur, Sudan.]