Shooting Blanks on Darfur

May 29, 2007 — -- If the measures that President Bush announced today are the first steps in a series of escalating multilateral punitive actions, the United States could lead the world in ending what the president has repeatedly called genocide in Darfur.

But if today's announcement represents the sum total of the U.S. government's plan to pressure the regime in Khartoum to accept a peacekeeping force that can protect civilians, respect the existing cease-fire and commit to new peace negotiations, then that plan is painfully insufficient, and must be enhanced quickly if there is to be any hope at all for a swift end to the escalating crisis in Darfur.

The international community's consistent failure to back up its rhetoric with action has created a dangerous sense of impunity in Khartoum, and the regime will only be further emboldened if there is not a significant bite to new punitive measures. Yet in at least seven meetings during the past six months, the president's "Principals Committee" of leading Cabinet officials dealing with foreign policy has failed to agree on anything more than what he announced today: unilateral sanctions on three individuals and 31 mostly Sudanese companies and, after a demand directly from President Bush, a vague commitment to press for tougher action by the U.N. Security Council.

Unilateral economic sanctions and freezing the assets of a couple of Sudanese officials will not change Sudanese calculations. The Clinton administration imposed strong economic sanctions against Sudan in 1997, which the Bush administration reauthorized. But the regime has had 10 years to devise strategies to circumvent these unilateral sanctions. The glittering high-rises going up in Khartoum tell the story: Khartoum found a way to make money without the United States.  Therefore, more of the same won't amount to a hill of beans.

A much more effective course of action would be for the United States to work with the new president in France and outgoing prime minister in Great Britain to pass a significant resolution in the U.N. Security Council that would impose targeted sanctions on the most culpable officials at the top of the regime, freeze the assets of the 161 Sudanese companies that the United States has already sanctioned unilaterally, encourage member states (such as the United States) to increase the amount of intelligence sharing with the International Criminal Court (ICC) focused on accelerating indictments for war crimes, and undertake accelerated planning for military measures to protect civilian populations.

John Prendergast co-chairs the ENOUGH Project and is co-author of the bestselling Not on Our Watch. Colin Thomas-Jensen is a Policy Adviser to ENOUGH.