Team Hillary: Darfur and the Clinton Confirmation Hearings

by Michelle

categories: Darfur & Sudan, Obama Administration

Published January 12, 2009 @ 07:08PM PT

Our likely-soon-to-be-hopefully new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, begins her confirmation hearings on the Hill tomorrow. As a senator and a presidential candidate, Clinton spoke forcefully on the need to act to end the genocide in Darfur, both out of our national interest and as a matter of moral obligation, and the hearings represent the first chance to hold Clinton to her commitments. (In a supportive way, preferably...but being in Team Hillary doesn't mean you sit back and hope she knows what you want.)

In a video op-ed for the Save Darfur Coalition in November 2007 (see below), Clinton said:

"Standing silent while Darfur continues to fester is not only irresponsible, and not in our interest; it is morally wrong. And that is why I believe we have seen the mobilization of a diverse coalition of Americans on behalf of Darfur. I thank you and urge you to keep making sure your voices are heard. Millions of people are counting on you."

(Wouldn't it be nice to have a Secretary of State that speak out against genocide and mass atrocity, and then actively uses the power and influence of her office to end it, rather than using the power and influence of her office to prevent such action and then expresses regret at the end of her term? Just a thought. Or, a wish for the future.)

And as further testament to the efforts of Darfur activists, out of a list of 47 questions for Clinton's confirmation hearing, the writers at the Shadow Government blog at ForeignPolicy.com dedicate two questions to Darfur:

12. Is Darfur a genocide? Will the Obama administration send U.S. troops to Darfur?

21. With U.S. troops stretched thin globally, would the Obama administration support the deployment of private security contractors as part of a peacekeeping force in Darfur?

...and one on the critically important issue of the tenuous peace in South Sudan, which has the potential to not only re-ignite all-out civil war and further exacerbate the conflict in Darfur:

20. If southern Sudan votes in favor of independence in its 2011 referendum, will the Obama administration support the creation of a sovereign state of southern Sudan?

Not too shabby, given all of the topics in the world that one could put under the vast umbrella of "foreign policy." If anyone wants to spam-fax this to the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, you have my full support.

(KIDDING. Sort of.)

[Photo: Senator Clinton signs the one millionth letter to President Bush calling for urgent action on Darfur in 2006.]