Daily Darfur: Various Ways to be Utterly Unhelpful

by Michelle

category: Daily Darfur

Published March 10, 2009 @ 03:46AM PT

Upheaval continues in Sudan following the issuance of an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week. Humanitarian agencies continue to raise the alarm over the dire situation in Darfur, following the expulsion of the 13 largest operations last week --- Michael Kleinman is providing daily updates on the status of the expulsions/humanitarian situation over at the Humanitarian Relief blog. Read on for the rest of today's Darfur news, which includes such uplifting tidbits as an attack on UNAMID peacekeepers, Bashir's upcoming presidential bid, and the African Union's marathon effort to subvert human rights.

Four UNAMID peacekeepers were injured in an ambush in Darfur yesterday, while on patrol near the border with Chad. A UNAMID spokesman expressed fears of an escalation of attacks against peacekeepers in Darfur:

"There have been numerous car-jackings and attempts to steal in west Darfur," said Mezni. "But this attack on our peacekeepers marks a worrying escalation. We are in Darfur to keep the peace and this is totally unacceptable."

It seems impossible to know, at this point, if the attack has any relation to the arrest warrant, as this  type of ambush has become increasingly common in Darfur in recent months. The Reuters article sited above inserted a short paragraph on the ICC, seemingly drawing an implicit connection...which seems a bit disingenuous to me.

How does a war criminal run a presidential campaign? (Hint: "Yes We Can" traded for "No You Won't.")

In a possible attempt to shore up domestic political support in the midst of the ICC drama, the government of Sudan released opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi from prison yesterday. Turabi was arrested two months ago publicly arguing that Bashir should hand himself over to the ICC.

I wonder if this is also part of Bashir's bid for "re-election"...? John Norris posted an eyebrow-raising bit of speculation on the ENOUGH blog yesterday:

"Over the weekend, I heard an interesting take on President Bashir's decision to expel key humanitarian relief agencies working in Sudan from a colleague. He noted that Bashir may well see winning the upcoming national election in Sudan as his best hope for staving off the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. The decision to expel aid agencies may be directly designed to break apart some of the largest displaced persons camps in Darfur, where the U.N. has declared that more than one million people are now at risk of a grave humanitarian emergency. For Bashir, this population represents an important voting block that would never cast their ballots for him. So by literally trying to starve this population, Bashir is hoping that Darfur's people will be too weak and too dispersed to speak out against his rule at the ballot box. The real question: How will the international community respond to such an outrage?"

Very interesting --- in a cold, calculating, excessively cruel, and incredibly frightening sort of way.

If you're thinking, "WTF?" ...yeah, well, me too.

In another effort to flaunt its new-found disregard for reason and integrity, the African Union appointed former South African President Thabo Mbeki to lead an investigation into human rights violations in Darfur, and to mediate between Sudan and the ICC.

"South Africa's Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Mbeki, who brokered the deal for Zimbabwe's political rivals to share power following last year's disputed elections ‘threw Zimbabweans under the proverbial bus by propping up long-time Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe despite the massive wave of violence and repression he unleashed --- and continues to unleash --- on his own people,' would have the role of mediating between ICC and Sudan."

Blogger/writer Savo Heleta shares my cynicism:

"Interestingly, the African Union decided to appoint the same man who while the president of South Africa had a very friendly relationship with Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan who is indicted by the International Criminal Court for the war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

....

What to expect from Thabo Mbeki's involvement in Darfur? Probably a few years of his ‘quiet diplomacy' during which tens of thousands will die and millions suffer unthinkable hardships and brutality."

Once again, the continent's leadership is showing more concern for propping up its Old Boys Club than for the will and well-being of million of people.

[Photo: Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (on jeep, C) parades through the street in Al Fasher, northern Darfur March 8, 2009. Al-Bashir threatened on Sunday to expel diplomats and more aid groups, brandishing a sword at a Darfur rally days after a Hague court issued a warrant for him for war crimes. (REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (SUDAN POLITICS CONFLICT SOCIETY)]