[Peace-discuss] RE: Peace-discuss Digest, Vol 43, Issue 8

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Thank you, Scott. You've clarified and reinforced my understanding of the situation and the difference between Congo and Darfur.
   
  Jenifer

Scott Edwards <scottisimo at hotmail.com> wrote:
      P  {  margin:0px;  padding:0px  }  body  {  FONT-SIZE: 10pt;  FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma  }    Jenifer, et al:

Caveat: I am speculating. 

The DRC has been at the top of the agenda for human rights organizations for years and, at least within Amnesty, is actually a higher "Country Action" priority than Sudan. While the atrocities in DRC are longer standing and certainly come with a higher human cost than in Darfur, there are a few key differences that might explain the disparate international responses. 

Unlike in the DRC, the Government of Sudan (that is, the "Government of National Unity") is largely in control of its territory. While seccessive governments in the DRC have had varying success in expanding governance beyond the West of the country, the East remains largely in the hands of several armed opposition groups. Complicating this is the fact that a very small number of the groups are composed of, or allied to, remanants of the genocidaires who fled into DRC from Rwanda as the Rwandan Patriotic Front retook that country in 1994. As such, the Government of Rwanda has repeatedly undertaken missions in the DRC, further sowing destruction, especially in Kivu provience. The vast numbers of refugees from surrounding states further complicates the situation, with numerous factions developing that, unlike in Darfur, aren't unified at least behind the goal of fighting the DRCs government, but rather each other and other foreign governments.

Unlike the DRC, the bulk of the atrocities in Darfur are directly attributable to the government in Khartoum. While some the rebel groups have killed, raped, and interdicted aid (mostly 1 of them--the SLM-Minawi faction, which is now a friend of the GoS), the overwhelming majority of abuses are committed by the government and its proxies. Which is why Arab tribes too are fighting alongside the Darfur rebel groups. Unlike DRC, there is a systematic campaign to kill and clear the land of undesirable civilians (I can indeed substantiate this), which is not the case in DRC.

While DRC, in terms of human costs, is a greater tragedy, it is a more complicated one, with fewer clear lines of responsibility, and even fewer obvious policy solutions. In Sudan, as complicated as it is, the needs are fairly simple: the Government must end its campaign, and all sides must respect international humanitarian law. Given that no side is doing that, and the government continues its campaign, there at least must be an international force to guarantee delivery of aid to the millions of conflict affected. In the DRC, where the atrocities are are attributable to a number of actors, exactly what it is that must be done is less clear, and it is certainly harder to get activists involved as a result. Unlike Darfur, it is not clear to me that a Ch 7 mandated peacekeeping force would help, given the complexities of the identities of the displaced, for instance.

So, it is clearer who is at fault in Darfur than DRC. It is clearer what the policy recommendations are. And given that Khartoum is a robust government, active in the international arena, there are more opportunities to pressure it to adhere to humanitarian law and international human rights norms. There are more opportunities for activists to get involved. And the "lack" of complexity of Darfur (relative to DRC, that is) makes it a more appealing story for the 90 seconds of media attention on African issues one encouters in corporate media.

I certainly don't like it, but I understand it. And if there is a way to build off of the Darfur activism, and extend that to DRC, it should be done. The "ENOUGH" campaign aims to do just that, and has very detailed policy analyses on these and other conflicts (http://www.enoughproject.org). While I don't agree with some of their policy statements, they are indeed trying to build on that activism.

best,
scott


> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 13:23:47 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Jenifer Cartwright <jencart7 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Re: Darfur Colonized by Peacekeepers?
> To: Scott Edwards <scottisimo at hotmail.com>,
> peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> Message-ID: <567796.71554.qm at web32710.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> I appreciate your sending this, Scott. It corroborates what I've heard from others, and allows me to hope there is interest in resolving the Darfur crisis/genocide that doesn't have US (and others) for humanitarian rather than ulterior motives. 
> 
> Would you please comment on the situation in the Congo, especially the apparent lack of interest world-wide, when reportedly there are far greater atricities happening there?
> 
> Thanks,
> Jenifer 


  
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