US Envoy on Bears, Honey, and Peace in Sudan
Published September 17, 2009 @ 06:17PM PT
US Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration moved his damage control campaign from DC to Darfur last week, where he reportedly (though he denies it) was greeted with no small amount of frustration in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.
It is, indeed, critically important that Gration is reaching out to Darfuris. Comments about his conversations with IDPS made by the Special Envoy during an interview with Radio Dabanga, however, are rather concerning:
"I found out that people misunderstand my position. The second thing I found out is that the people thought I said we should remove Sudan from the terrorist list. I never said that."
He continues:
"But if you study my words, ...if you study what I said in the congress, you'll see that my words are exactly as I stated and not what has been reported by other people to the people in Darfur."
Ok, well here's exactly what he said, during his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July:
"There's no evidence in our intelligence community that supports [Sudan] being on the state sponsors of terrorism. It's a political decision."
So perhaps Gration is parsing words while accusing others of doing the same: He didn't explicitly say to take Sudan off the list, but the implications of his statement are difficult to deny.
During the interview with Radio Dabanga, Gration also defended his incentive-based approach to Khartoum, arguing that, "You catch more bears with honey than with vinegar." (Seriously.) His broad assertions that such incentives are already having a positive impact with the ruling party in Khartoum -- he neglects to provide any examples -- don't exactly jive with recent reports on the situation on the ground in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan.
Case in point: The security situation in Darfur is deplorable, and UNAMID is beefing up patrols as a result of increasing attacks on humanitarian aid operations. Violence in South Sudan is already higher than Darfur, and rising. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies issued a statement on the crackdown of freedom of expression and association in Sudan, and human rights defenders have come under increased threat from government security forces.
Sudan is gearing up for national elections next April, but it's difficult to see how Sudanese citizens will be able to freely participate in a fair and credible process -- and it's difficult to imagine elections taking place in Darfur at all. Where in all of this are Gration's incentives working?
[Photo of Scott Gration and President Obama from WikiCommons.]
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Michelle became involved in the anti-genocide cause at a young age, and has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns, ever since.
