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U.N. Requests delays in proposed sanctions for Sudan

For as long as I've been blogging, and before, I've been reading about the problems in Darfur. I've read descriptions of "genocide" and I've heard horrific tales on the radio. I've watched banners scroll across the bottom of my television screen trying to draw my attention to the evil there.

Maybe I haven't been blogging that long, but this "crisis" is really old news. People on all sides of the political spectrum have something to say about it. The United Nations Security Council has passed resolutions calling for either more troops to put a stop to the violence or economic sanctions for Sudan.

It can't be said that nobody has tried to pursue a diplomatic solution to this mess. For some reason though diplomacy just isn't working. Sudan refuses to cooperate.

That doesn't stop Secretary General Ban Ki Moon from blocking attempts to get serious about the sanctions, or to impose more meaningful ones. The Washington Post reports on this...

President Bush unveiled a new package of sanctions against Sudan yesterday for failing to cooperate with international efforts to end what he described as the "genocide" in the Darfur region -- but promptly postponed it to give the U.N. secretary general time to pursue a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Until Tuesday night, the White House had been planning to use the speech to impose a "Plan B" for Sudan, a long-anticipated plan that includes new financial sanctions targeting 29 companies owned or controlled by the Sudanese government, as well as three people involved in fomenting violence in Darfur. Bush and his aides have been increasingly frustrated by their inability to prod Sudan to cooperate in efforts to end the humanitarian crisis in the troubled region, where as many as 450,000 people have died and more than 2 million have been made homeless after attacks from government-sponsored militias.

But the administration plan was upended by a last-minute plea Tuesday from Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, requesting more time to work out a diplomatic solution with Sudan's president, Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Ban bluntly told Rice that now is not the time to be enforcing new sanctions on Sudan, said U.S. and U.N. sources familiar with the conversation.

This is what I just can't stand about the U.N. It seems that all they ever want to do is talk. Hundreds of thousands of people die and millions of people become refugees and all the the U.N. wants to do is talk. talk.

"The Darfur conflict is not about the partial deployment of troops. It is about ending the genocide, respecting the rule of law, accountability and allowing people to return to their homes," said Ted Dagne, an Africa specialist at the Congressional Research Service. "We have declared genocide, but we have not addressed the root causes of the conflict and how to end it. In Rwanda, one million were killed in 90 days; yet in Darfur, it is four years and still counting."

Dagne was complaining about the lack of meaningful U.S. action regarding this mess, and he does have a point. The problem is, it's not the U.S. that is delaying doing anything meaningful here. It's the U.N. The Secretary General says "Now is not the time to be enforcing new sanctions on Sudan".

When IS the time to be enforcing sanctions? After everyone in Darfur is dead? It almost seems as if the Secretary General wants to wait that long. After all, if everyone's dead the problem goes away doesn't it?

Administration officials said they are skeptical of Bashir's intentions, citing the endless haggling over a peacekeeping force for Darfur that is supposed to eventually include more than 20,000 U.N. and African Union soldiers and police officers. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte called Bush from Khartoum on Tuesday and reported that Bashir was defiant and showed little indication that he would be accommodating, officials said.

Bush had already made the key decisions over the past week, accepting most of the recommendations of his advisers after rejecting a package that he viewed as too weak, administration officials said. But then, on Tuesday, Ban called Rice and made what U.S. officials described as a personal and emotional plea for a delay.

Ban noted that Bashir's agreement this week to allow an initial deployment of 3,000 peacekeepers was his first diplomatic achievement as U.N. secretary general and that it had been greeted favorably by other nations, so a U.S. move to impose sanctions now would undercut that accomplishment. He also said that Bashir is convinced that the United States is acting in bad faith, so any move by the administration would simply reinforce his belief that the international community cannot be trusted, sources said.

I'm convinced that Bashir is acting in bad faith. The militias are government sponsored. Lt. Gen Omar Hassan al-Bashir is responsible for the violence in Darfur. He can stop it without the need for a peacekeeping force.

The fact that he won't, and that he's ignored the sanctions so far is a perfect indication that he can't be trusted. It's long past time for diplomacy in Darfur.

The international community cannot be trusted to do anything more than talk. Once again we see how the U.N. has lost its will to fight evil in the world. While they delay more victims are dying and more people are being made into refugees.

The U.N. has failed in its mission to promote peace, because all they do is talk about it and wring their hands.

Originally posted at Reject the U.N.

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