Bush has the right approach towards Darfur, but needs to complete the mission

November 25, 2008

Wall Street Journal published an editorial on Sunday by the executive director of Human Rights Watch, Mr. Kenneth Roth. In the article, Mr. Roth remarks that his organization "rarely lauds the Bush administration. But when it comes to supporting international efforts to prosecute Sudanese leaders for their slaughter in Darfur, the administration so far has it right." The United Nations Security Council will soon hold a vote to suspend the prosecution of Al-Bashir in the International Criminal Court, but only if the Council can obtain a vote of nine of fifteen in favor of the suspension. The Bush administration, characteristically hesitant to support any ICC prosecution for fear that an American might one day be targeted, has shifted its position in regards to the conflict in Darfur. Should the Security Council obtain the proper number of votes, the Bush administration promises to exercise its veto to block the suspension of prosecution.

The Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy applauds the work of the Bush administration, and especially this shift of paradigm to stop the conflict in Darfur. The Bush administration clearly recognizes the gravity of the situation, and the importance that must be put on the arrest of Al-Bashir. While countries including Libya, China, and South Africa have vowed to vote "yea" on the suspension of prosecution for the Sudanese president, Western countries including the U.S. and France have taken the proper stance.

The Damanga Coalition favors this position on the part of the U.S., not only in as much as it relates to the Darfur crisis, but also in that it suggests a move of the U.S. to unequivocally favor justice and accountability on the world stage. This suggests a break with the unilateral policies of the U.S. in previous years. The Damanga Coalition therefore calls on the Bush administration to keeps its word to block the suspension of the prosecution for President Al-Bashir, and also calls on President-Elect Obama and his incoming administration to pursue this pivotal approach towards justice. With this frame of mind, the U.S. can help to halt the genocide in Darfur, and go on to champion democracy and freedom in the crises in Somalia, the Congo, and beyond.