On March 4, after months of deliberation, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir. He is facing two counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity for the violence he has orchestrated in Darfur. The ICC refrained from indicting him on charges of genocide, claiming that there was not sufficient evidence to support this charge. This marks the first time that a sitting head of state has been indicted by the court and is a small success that many anti-genocide groups, including Tufts STAND, have been working toward for years. It seems that the international community has finally decided to take a stand for Darfur and tell the government of Sudan that killing one's own citizens is not acceptable.
However, the battle is definitely not over now that the warrant has been issued. In fact, much has happened already that indicates that the situation in Darfur, and possibly all of Sudan, is going to get worse before it gets better. This is in part because the ICC has no police force of its own with which to carry out an arrest, meaning that the arrest warrant actually carries little to no weight. It is an important symbolic message, and technically al-Bashir could be arrested if he gets turned in by either his own government or that of another country to which he travels. The ICC has called on all countries to detain al-Bashir if he visits, but he has the support of the majority of African and Arab countries, and he is unlikely to visit places outside of these categories. There is also a possibility that officials in his own government will turn him in, likely in an attempt to avoid becoming the next targets of the ICC, but the chances of either of these things happening are fairly slim.
This is bad news considering that this decision just made a genocidal dictator quite angry. Within half an hour of the decision, al-Bashir had begun revoking the licenses of non-governmental organizations operating inside Sudan that were working with displaced persons from Darfur. By the end of the week, he had revoked the licenses of 13 aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam International, Save the Children and CARE International, among others. This is distressing news because it is estimated that over 1 million internally displaced people were depending on these organizations for many basic survival necessities.
Thus, the genocide in slow motion that is Darfur will likely continue, and even intensify in the coming days, weeks and months, as people who have already been driven from their homes suddenly find themselves lacking food, water and health care. Alarmingly, there are reports that diarrheal disease and meningitis have already begun spreading through two Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Sudan. With a severe lack of health-care services, these could quickly turn into full-blown deadly epidemics with the potential to kill people before the lack of food even becomes an issue.
The international community is not pleased with al-Bashir's actions and the United Nations is trying to persuade him to allow the aid groups to continue operating in Darfur. However, it is likely that the only incentive that would persuade the Sudanese President to do this would be for the United Nations Security Council to invoke a measure that would set the warrant aside for one year. A delegation of representatives from the African Union and the Arab League are expected to arrive in New York any day to ask the Security Council to do this very thing. They argue that the arrest warrant will only impede the possible peace process in Darfur.
I stand with many other anti-genocide activists when I say that I sincerely hope that the Security Council does not buy this argument and suspend the warrant for an additional 12 months. Omar al-Bashir has a long-standing record of consistently ignoring attempts at peace agreements and immediately violating them in the rare instances that they come about. There is no reason to believe that this situation will be any different; he is not interested in bringing an end to the conflict, and suspending the warrant will only show al-Bashir that the international community has no resolve to stand up to him, essentially assuring him complete power over the situation.
Yet the removal of aid from the region could lead to the deaths of countless Darfuris. It would have been irresponsible of the international community to stoke the fires of the conflict — as it was clear the arrest warrant would — if we were not committed to taking follow-up action to end the genocide once and for all. If the international community lacks the resolve to demand and enforce peace for the Darfur region, then we are condemning millions of innocent people to death in IDP camps, as well as risking the deterioration of Sudan back into the brutal civil war that plagued the country for over 20 years.
As a powerful member of the international community, the United States has an important role to play in the movement toward peace in Sudan. Clearly this is not something we can undertake alone, especially in light of the anti-American sentiment that is becoming the theme of al-Bashir's post-warrant rallies of defiance in Khartoum. (Interesting fact: This is actually fairly undeserved because the United States never joined the International Criminal Court, likely because the Bush administration feared charges being brought against its own government.) But as a leading member of the United Nations, the United States can be an important player in pushing for peace.
Now more than ever, the United States needs to lead the international community in taking multilateral action to bring an end to the violence and restore the safety of Sudanese citizens. The Barack Obama administration can start by appointing a high-level envoy to Sudan; this small action will help to ensure that the United States keeps Sudan on the agenda and stays up-to-date on the best policies to employ at any given time. An additional option is for the United States to work with the United Nations to enforce a no-fly zone over Sudan for military planes, which would cripple one of al-Bashir's prized assets, the Sudanese Air Force, and also impede the ability of the government to conduct attacks on civilians. Finally, the international community needs to work together to enforce the arms embargo that is in place but not observed in Sudan and to support the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur peacekeeping force as long as it remains in operation, as well as advocate for the re-entry of the aid agencies into the country.
In short, the ICC decision, while an important step for the long-term, has created a short-term crisis, and we must not stand idly by while innocent people are killed by ruthless government policies. It is critical that the United States steps up and takes the initiative to mobilize the international community on this issue.
Now here's where you come in: I know you have your cell phone with you; pick it up and send a text to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 90822 and ask her to make Darfur a priority. This simple action, taken by thousands of students across the country today, will show the administration that Americans won't stand for genocide when we have the ability to stop it. With swift action, we can ensure that the current situation does not degenerate into further chaos and violence.
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Christina Kay is a sophomore majoring in peace and justice studies and community health. She is also co-chair of Tufts STAND.
