The Wrong Decision on Sudan
By Douglas Farah
Yesterday President Bush was to unveil the long-anticipated "Plan B" for sanctioning the Sudanese regime for the genocide in Darfur. But at the last minute Bush accepted a plea to wait. The Sudanese government had again asked for more time to allow U.N. peacekeepers to arrive.
It is a trick that the Sudanese have successfully used for four years to avoid ending the slaughter of civilians, with the Islamist government's blessing, guidance and support. It simply means more people will die while the regime of Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir drags its feet, backtracks, promises, hems, haws and generally buys several more months. Sooner or later, if he can drag it out long enough, there will be no one left to ethnically cleanse, and then peacekeepers can disembark without opposition.
After at least 450,000 killed and 2 million displaced, why does anyone take Bashir's word on anything? He hasn't done anything to lessen the slaughter since the carnage began. He has repeatedly promised, then retracted, support of peacekeepers.
"The brutal treatment of innocent civilians in Darfur is unacceptable," Bush said. "The status quo must not continue." And yet it is entirely acceptable. For a few weeks, then months, then years.
The irony is that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked the sanctions be postponed, even as he was presented with concrete evidence the Bashir government was illegally flying weapons to its forces and the _janjaweed_ in Darfur. My full blog is here.