The ICC Had It Right

November 10, 2008

An unnamed senior U.N. official asserted Thursday that an indictment of the al-Bashir government by the International Criminal Court "could ruin a process that ended two decades of civil war." This was in reference, of course, to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in January 2005. Many officials agree with this assertion, including U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet. Even the Sudanese people seemed to advocate the same belief; thousands of protesters stalled traffic in a government-organized march in Khartoum only a few months ago on July 13. But the protest was just that: a government-run ploy. The Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy saw through the charade then, and it will protest against this unsubstantiated remark now.

The Damanga Coalition strongly believes that an indictment of al-Bashir will not impede the peace process in the Sudan. On the contrary, we believe halting the atrocities at their source will bolster and advance it. Perpetration of the ethnic cleansing and genocide in Darfur will continue only so long as the government that supports it remains in power. The region of South Kordofan has emerged recently in the news as a potential area for contention, even a "second Darfur." This is based on looming contention over the oil-rich Abyei region, which, although it lies in South Sudan territory, has been claimed by the North. The North-South conflict is a continuing problem only because the Government of Sudan, which currently governs the Northern region of Sudan, wishes to lay claim to all of the oil reserves in the country. A number of the largest oil reserves, including Abyei, lie south of the boundary established by the CPA. Khartoum has therefore sought to redefine borders to obtain the greatest sources of oil in Sudan. But if the greedy government is silenced by indictment, it is surely a step towards peace.

Damanga urges the international community to move forward with the indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. It is the Sudanese government that allows thousands to be killed and millions to be displaced. It is the Sudanese government that has turned a geopolitical dispute into an ethnic matter where arbitrary lines are drawn at the cost of innocent lives. But the international community has been given the opportunity to intercede on behalf of the people of the Sudan instead of the abusive government. Damanga entreats the U.S.'s current administration and elected successor to decisively support the ICC in its bold but necessary condemnation. Only then can the Sudanese people finally begin to reconcile a brutal civil war that has raged for decades. Bureaucratic politics must cease. Action is now the sine qua non.