A Critical Moment for Darfur

By Mia Farrow 
December 11, 2007
The Wall Street Journal 
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119734196706620420.html 

United Nations Resolution 1769 entered the world with promise. The infant resolution was destined to accomplish great things: It authorized the deployment of 26,000 peacekeepers to protect millions of imperiled people in the anguished Darfur region of Sudan.

It was ushered through with no shortage of midwives. Even China, Sudan's closest business partner and ally on the Security Council, signed onto the resolution under intense international pressure. Thus, when it was adopted on July 31, 2007, there was new hope for Darfur's desperate people, and the aid workers struggling to sustain them.

But despite those hopes, violence continues to escalate in Darfur.

The United Nations documents that hundreds of people have been killed in about 20 land and air attacks carried out by the government of Sudan and its affiliated militia in the past six months. Humanitarian workers have also been victimized.

This week, Oxfam's director in Sudan, Alun MacDonald said, Our staff are being targeted on a daily basis. They are being shot, robbed, beaten and abducted. The security situation, he insisted, is the worse since the entire conflict began. Seven aid workers were killed in October, according to Mr. Macdonald. These aren't conditions we can keep working in.

Where has Resolution 1769 been amid all this? Slowly suffocating at the hands of a regime that will stop at nothing to ensure its demise.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has blocked the peacekeepers with every conceivable obstacle. Last week, he rejected the offers of Nepal, Norway, Sweden, India and Thailand to contribute troops. Even if there is a shortage of troops from the African continent, he said, we are not going to accept those people.

Resolution 1769 says the force should have a predominantly African character and the troops should, as far as possible, be sourced from African countries. But predominantly African in character is not the same as exclusively African.

Deadlines for assembling the force have come and gone, thwarted by Mr. Bashir's regime. Khartoum has not given the U.N. mission the land or water access to base and sustain its troops. It places restraints on U.N. helicopter flights. It denies landing rights to transport aircraft. It refuses to allow night flights essential for civilian protection and medical evacuations. It refuses to allow off-loading of equipment in Port Sudan. And it demands advance notice of U.N. troop movements, as well as the right to shut down all communications.

This week, U.N. Director of Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno informed the Security Council that Khartoum's demands would make it impossible for the mission to operate. Mr. Guéhenno raises the grim question, Do we move ahead with the deployment of a force that will not make a difference, that will not have the capability to defend itself, and that carries the risk of humiliation of the Security Council and the United Nations, and tragic failure for the people of Darfur?

As Resolution 1769 lies dying, the world seems content to look on in silence. The diplomatic pressure needed to end Mr. Bashir's pattern of obstruction is nowhere to be found.

China alone holds diplomatic and economic leverage over Khartoum. It is support from China's leaders that allows Sudan's president to smugly thumb his nose at the world. And yet there has been no outpouring of diplomatic pressure on China to use its influence to end Khartoum's obduracy.

Similarly, the basic logistical support needed to move the force forward is lacking. The commander of the proposed mission, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, is pleading for a mere 24 helicopters essential for security and protection operations, but no nation has offered a single chopper. Zero.

This week, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Security Council members and all countries for help. While helicopters alone cannot ensure the success of the mission, he said, their absence may well doom it to failure. Mr. Ban has personally contacted every country with the potential to contribute a helicopter, to no avail.

We are at the critical moment for Darfur, Mr. Ban said. Member states have spoken clearly about what must be done. It is time for them to walk their talk.

And so a promising young resolution continues its death throes. World powers are standing by mutely watching Mr. Bashir strangle the infant U.N. resolution, with China at his side.

Ms. Farrow, an actor, has visited the Darfur region seven times.