Damanga Responds to Reuters “SAfrica tells ICC: ‘Give peace a chance’ in Darfur”

July 31, 2008

South African’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dumisani Kumalo’s recently said “We are not saying ‘stop doing it’ to the prosecutors of the ICC, we are saying give peace a chance, can you just give it a year, let’s see UNAMID deployed.” Damanga was astonished that South Africa would have the audacity to request the Security Council enact the terms of articles sixteen and suspend the indictment of Bashir by the ICC while simultaneously asking for the international community to suspend the indictment for a year. Clearly, South Africa does not want Bashir to be prosecuted at any point in time: today, a year from today, or ever.

It is obvious that it is countries like South Africa which claim to be facilitating justice in Africa, supporting the International Court, and protecting the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of the people of Darfur, are in actuality aligned with those countries and leaders implicit in the genocide. Those countries which remained silent when the people of Darfur were brutally slaughtered are no better than Bashir who has attempted to brutally eliminate the entirety of Africans in Sudan. Russia, China, Vietnam and the Arab League should all be held accountable for this genocide along with Bashir. As said by Martin Luther King, Jr. “In the end, we will remember not only the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

It is curious why some of these countries oppose bringing Bashir to justice. Could they fear personal repercussions? Countries such as Turkey who have committed their own acts of genocide might be afraid of the implications of indicting Bashir. Perhaps, their apprehension lies within their personal interests and concerns regarding their own past acts of brutality. These countries fear, and rightly so, of being held to a new standard. These countries are afraid of being brought to justice themselves.

As to those countries such as Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Libya who have assisted Darfur in the past, through either UNAMID or other calls for peace, we applaud for your actions and dedication. However, we at Damanga, we, as Darfurians are disappointed by those who undermine the justice of the Darfurian people by claiming that this justice will impede peace. We pose to you a question: how can peace be reached when justice is not served. How can we expect Bashir to lead the Darfurian people to safety after brutally slaughtering them for years? We cannot allow Bashir to assist in bringing peace to Darfur, such an attempt to fail. You cannot expect a lion to lie down next to a sheep after eating its brother. Nor can you expect the sheep to embrace the lion as its leader. We applaud those courageous and bold leaders and countries who support the people of Darfur and the ICC’s indictment of Bashir.

Contrary to the belief that indicting Bashir would stall the peace process, in reality, this indictment would communicate to the Sudanese Government, the Arab League, the African Union and the world at large that the UN and the International community holds a strong resolve against not only the genocide of the Sudanese people, but genocide anywhere at anytime against anyone. While this indictment won’t bring an immediate cessation of violence, it will underscore the importance of taking direct action immediately and draw the world’s attention and focus to the Darfurian people’s suffering. This indictment would lead to a stronger UN intervention.

Finally, the decision to indict and the warrant for Bashir’s arrest must be issued directly. Immediate action will not only bring a speedier halt to the genocide, but would also enhance the likeliness of the warrant being issued. Under any other circumstances, China would likely halt action from its seat on the Security Council. However, China’s voice is muffled due to the international attention China is receiving hosting the Olympics this year and the international community’s criticism of China’s personal human rights violations.

Damanga would like to take a moment and alleviate some incongruities. While many articles have been released recently implying that the Darfurian death count is under 150,000, we would like to point out that according to the UN’s the most recent estimate of the number of deaths suffered by the Darfurian people at the hand of Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir is over 300,000. In all honesty, the UN estimates are much too low.

Damanga also wants to take this opportunity to highlight that UNAMID has not only failed to bring about peace in the last year since Resolution 1769 was passed to implement the Darfurian Peace Agreement, but it has also failed to deploy even half of its authorized force. Nevertheless, unless a halt of violence is reached in the next two days, UNAMID has emphatically failed to succeeed in its mission, progress has not been made, and there is no reason to believe that UNAMID would be successful given such an extension.

Damanga also points to the failure of the international community to supply UNAMID with the necessary transportation and technology required to deploy such a taskforce. For example, one of the greatest obstructions to UNAMID’s deployment is the deficiency of helicopters supplied to this mission. If the United States, with one of the strongest militaries in the world were willing to lend the UN just a small number of its own helicopters for a brief period, than peace in Darfur would be much sooner reached.