[Peace-discuss] RE: a small-scaled metaphor for Darfur

[Scott Edwards]

I do understand the hesitation people may have about military intervention. 
But I'm afriad that this particular analogy is not apt.

First, there are not 2 sides (2 people on the street). There are, in fact, 5 
main actors operating in Darfur. The JEM, SLA, NMRD, GoS military, and 
GoS-backed militia. All of these actors are armed.

I am glad folks have keyed in on the oversimplification of the situation as 
inherently ethnic. But there is, for the most part, a very poor 
understanding of what is happening in Darfur, even among activists, and 
charaterizing Darfur as a 2-sided conflict necessarily detracts from the 
main reasoning for an interantional peacekeeping force.

Sudan and Darfur-neighboring Chad are now in a “state of belligerence”, 
bringing further insecurity to the Darfur region. Numerous cross-border 
attacks in the past few weeks have severely worsened the security situation 
in Darfur, the most recent on 28 January when, according to the Sudanese 
military, a Chadian unit backed by artillery attacked a Sudanese position 24 
miles northwest of Geneina in West Darfur state. Chad denies the attack was 
carried out by Chadian forces.

Both countries accuse the other of sponsoring rebel forces in their 
respective states, claims in keeping with the historical strategies used by 
Chad and Sudan.

The government of Sudan and its militia allies are amassing troops in the El 
Geneina vicinity along the border with Chad. Individuals from the area 
around El Geneina told the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy that 
this is the largest military buildup they have seen. (El Geneina is the 
capital of West Darfur state and not far from Sudan’s border with Chad).

The presumably government-backed militia in the area have told civilians 
that there is a curfew and could shoot anybody out on the street, and women 
are reporting fear of random sexual violence. I am aware of an individual in 
El Geneina who was specifically told by a soldier that he had been 
transferred to the border region in preparation for a war with Chad, and 
that the military was looking for spies in towns like El Geneina, Tandelti, 
Abu-Sirog, Beida and Arara. This is THIS month.

Peace talks between the JEM/SLA and GoS continue. Multiple violations of a 
truce have occurred in the past couple of weeks, particularly by the SLA. A 
3rd organization, the National Movement for Reform and Development (NMRD), 
is not taking part in the negotiations and continues attacks against the 
Sudanese military, with the military responding in kind. The GoS claims the 
NMRD is being sponsored by Chad.

Fighting among the SLA itself continues, with factions clashing particularly 
in West Darfur, the most recent skirmish in the Kulbus area of West Darfur 
on Mon, 30 Jan.

At this point, there is no real "Janjaweed" as an organized militia as it 
existed as recently as six months ago. Rather, it has devolved back into 
roving gangs who do not hesitate to interdict humantarian aid and exact 
human rights abuses on civilians, the likes of which we are all familiar at 
this point.

And civilians are attempting to live in this security environment.

Not to mention the rest of Sudan. The Beja in the East, because of oil 
interests, find themselves in conflict with the government, and the 
potential for widespread conflict there is very real. Beja political leaders 
have been summarily imprisoned, and extrajudicial killings have taken place.

And the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is in trouble. And there are hundreds 
of thousands of vulnerable people in and around Khartoum still displaced 
from the North-South war who are at risk of forced relocation.

My point is, an anology that implies this is a matter of misunderstanding 
that needs to be talked out is off the mark.

An international peace keeping force will look like this: UNMIS, the current 
UN mission to monitor the North-South peace deal will be combined with a 
UN-backed Darfur peacekeeping force, with the current AU peacekeepers 
integrated under the UN.

Sudan will protest and there will be a vote on the security council. This is 
what will happen. Folk should be prepared to apply pressure at the 
appropriate places, should it become necessary, should they agree this is 
the proper course of action.

In the meantime I and others are working to get the Darfur Peace and 
Accountability Act out of committee. It is a way to be involved that doesn't 
touch on intervention, if you are averse.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/sudan/index.do

best,
scott

Scott Edwards
Amnesty International, US
Country Specialist for Sudan

>Message: 3
>Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 14:00:29 -0600
>From: Karen Medina <kmedina at uiuc.edu>
>Subject: [Peace-discuss] a small-scaled metaphor for Darfur
>To: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>Message-ID: <8fd8d313.8ebc00a2.f261000 at expms4.cites.uiuc.edu>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>This is my current feeling about the situation in Darfur.
>
>A smaller scaled metaphor:
>Situation: Two people are fighting on the street. One person
>draws a gun. The other person has no gun. You just happen to
>have a gun. What do you do?
>
>A friend (1) says that he would walk away and let them settle
>it. I say to this first friend, what if the two people
>fighting are important to you? Does that change your answer?
>What if both were people you loved? Pretend like they are
>your children that you care for deeply. What do you do with
>the guns and the situation?
>
>A friend (2) says that you throw the unarmed person a gun
>too. I say that this solution will end up with two dead
>bodies on the street. Or, for the least, one dead person that
>you care about, and the other person is now a murderer.
>
>Another friend (3) says you pull your gun and step between
>the two people fighting. I say you are in no better
>situation. One person still has a gun and they are still
>trying to get to the other person. Plus, what if there were
>more than one person you are trying to defend, and these
>people are so spread out that you can not be in more than one
>place at a time and defend them against the person who wants
>to kill them?
>
>Yet another friend (4) says: you put down your gun and you
>try to talk to the two people, mediate between them, find out
>what the problem is. I like this answer.
>
>I care deeply for the people in Darfur. I do not want a
>military intervention.
>
>-karen medina
>
>
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>End of Peace-discuss Digest, Vol 25, Issue 51
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