CSW briefing on Sudan

Background in Brief

The current situation in Darfur has been described, justifiably, as the worst humanitarian situation in the world. The response of the Government of Sudan (GoS) to a double uprising that was provoked by its own actions has been characterized by sustained and brutal attacks by government regular forces and allied Janajawid militias of Arab or mixed descent on African civilians primarily from the Fur, Zaghawa and Massalit tribes. The GoS has resorted to the scorched earth policies it perfected in the killing fields of northern Bahr al Ghazal in southern Sudan. Government aircraft have bombed villages, and government troops and allied militias have looted, abducted women and children, utilized mass rape as a weapon of war, carried out summary executions and interfered with the distribution of humanitarian aid.

While there is much debate amongst members of the international intelligentsia about whether events in Darfur constitute ethnic cleansing, genocide or war crimes, the facts on the ground are stark: up to one million people displaced internally, at least 200,000 refugees in Chad, and an estimated 50,000 deaths since February 2003. Fortunately, the international media has focused unrelentingly on the human suffering in Darfur. This extensive news coverage, together with reports from NGOs and United Nations (UN) staff have left the international community in little doubt about the seriousness of events western Sudan and has forced Darfur to the top of the international agenda. This has obliged a hesitant international community to at the very least be seen to be taking action to relieve the plight of the African civilians. Unfortunately, despite the obvious need for decisive intervention, the response so far to the Darfur crisis has been accurately described as ‘an essay in timidity’, for not only has the international community been slow to act, but also, when it has acted, it has been so indecisive that a government skilled in the art of prevarication has been able to extend deadlines while continuing to wage war against Darfuri civilians.

Elsewhere in Sudan, peace talks in the south appear to be stalling, while in the north, students, human rights activists and members of opposition parties continue to face arbitrary detention and, in some cases, torture.

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