(Photo: AP / Alfred de Montesquiou)Sheikas, or traditional women leaders, are seen at the south Darfur refugee camp of Kalma April 10, 2007. Now in its fourth year, the Darfur conflict has become the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and rape is its regular byproduct, U.N. and other human rights activists say. Sudan's government denies arming and unleashing the janjaweed, and bristles at the charges of rape, saying its conservative Islamic society would never tolerate it.
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WASHINGTON – The new set of U.S. economic sanctions aimed at pressuring Sudan to halt the bloodshed in Darfur was welcomed by leaders of faith-based, humanitarian, and human rights organization that have tirelessly advocated for an end to the genocide there and for the millions displaced by the fighting.
Yet many say the sanctions are only a long-awaited first step and are still pressing for stronger actions from the United States and the international community.
“We applaud the U.S. decision to impose unilateral sanctions on Sudan,” said Geoff Tunnicliffe, the World Evangelical Alliance’s international director, to The Christian Post. “However, strong words also must be backed up with immediate action.
“The U.S. must also engage its allies and the United Nations to impose sanctions as well. It is my hope that at the G-8 leadership summit in Germany, Darfur will be high on the agenda.”
President Bush announced Tuesday that the United States was enforcing sanctions which ban 31 Sudanese companies owned or controlled by Sudan’s government from the U.S. banking system. The sanctions also barred three Sudanese individuals from doing business with U.S companies or banks.
“The Save Darfur Coalition welcomes President Bush’s decision to finally impose stronger targeted sanctions on the al-Bashir regime in Sudan, while recognizing that these measures are too late and too little,” commented David Rubenstein, executive director of the Save Darfur Coalition, in a statement.
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“However, because the international community and the Bush administration have been barking at the Sudanese regime for so long, it is assuring to see that at least the U.S. has finally started to bite.”
The coalition called on Bush to ensure the enforcement of the sanction and to urge other countries to join in the sanction as well.
Furthermore, John Prendergast, policy adviser to the ENOUGH project, an advocacy group to prevent genocide and mass atrocities, questioned the number of sanctioned Sudanese individuals.
“Three people? After four years? And not one of them the real ringleader of the policy to divide and destroy Darfur?” asked Prendergast, according to The Associated Press. “This will not build multilateral pressure, and this will not end the crisis in Darfur.”
In addition to U.S. sanctions, Bush has also directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to draft a U.N. resolution for a multinational sanction on the Sudanese government and individuals violating human rights or hindering the peace process.
It is hoped that with greater U.S. economic pressure Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will finally allow more U.N. peacekeeping troops into Darfur to help the under-funded and overstretched African Union troops stop the violence. Last week, the United Nations and African Union agreed to at least a 23,000 hybrid force in the region, according to Agence France-Presse.
“The people of Darfur have already waited too long for genocide to be stopped,” concluded Tunnicliffe. “I am asking Christians around the world to pray and act on behalf of the suffering people of Darfur.”
The conflict in Darfur has killed 200,000 people and forced 2.5 million civilians from their homes since February 2003.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is participating in the gathering of foreign ministers from the Group of Eight nations in Germany on Wednesday where Darfur is among the pressing international issues that will be discussed. The G8 summit will take place June 6-8 in Heiligendamm, Germany.
