The arrival of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in Khartoum will have been greeted with mixed feelings by the Sudanese government. Straw is demanding that the Sudanese government both accelerate its facilitation of aid flows and rein in the Janjaweed militias who are held responsible for this massive exodus of terrified refugees. The British will, however, have been wise to realize that their demands come at a time when complex negotiations are taking place elsewhere. They should also accept that their intervention at this point will need to have been carefully structured if it is not to make a difficult situation even more difficult.
Yesterday’s African Union meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja was a resumption of talks between the Sudanese government and the two Darfur rebel groups. The talks collapsed in July when the rebels walked out. What has been missing in the Washington-London intervention has been any overt acceptance that the rebels also need to be part of their diplomacy and, in addition, due regard should be given to the AU’s own initiative to bring the tragedy of Darfur to an end. The British and Americans should have realized from the difficulty that they had finding an acceptable wording for last month’s Security Council Darfur resolution that once the deadline for action by the Sudanese government runs out next week, they are unlikely to find approval, especially from the French and Chinese, for a resolution authorizing military intervention. Even assuming that the UN were prepared to sign off on yet another armed deployment, can the already overstretched US and British forces really manage one? And if UN backing is not forthcoming, do Bush and Blair really have the appetite for yet another adventure based upon a tenuous justification extracted from the existing Security Council resolution?
The Sudanese government has no doubt mishandled the Darfur problem. But it is a sovereign government which needs to be assisted, not bullied into finding a solution. What is more, equity demands that outside intervention must take account of the fact that Darfur is in rebellion and the rebels themselves must also come under international pressure to stop their campaign.
There are in fact two issues which must not be conflated. The first is the feeding and sheltering of one million unfortunate refugees. If Khartoum abandons its apparently grudging assistance in this matter, it cannot be held complicit in this massive human disaster. The next issue is negotiating peace and disarming the Janjawid militias who, apparently in response to the Darfur rebellion, have brought about this mass flight of the region’s inhabitants. The Janjaweed themselves need to be included in the negotiations since they clearly have grievances as well. There will be time enough to discover if they were acting in concert with some Sudanese officials. What is important is that this conflict be resolved so that the refugees can return home in safety and resume their shattered lives. Iraq should have taught Bush and Blair that force only makes a complex problem worse.
