Andrew Mitchell MP: Learning the lessons of the tsunami

Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, argues, three years on from the Asian tsunami, that the world’s chaotic response to disasters is costing lives.

Boxing Day 2004, the day of the Asian tsunami, was a day of hundreds of thousands of personal tragedies. Some images stick in the mind: camcorder footage of killer waves lashing violently against the shore, tragic final pictures of holidaymakers taken moments before the waves overpowered them, and the incredible story of Tilly Smith, the 10 year-old schoolgirl from Oxshott who, remembering her geography lessons, realised that the receding sea heralded a tsunami and raised the alarm, allowing her family to flee to safety.

The tsunami was a natural tragedy: it reminds us of the awesome force of nature, and of humanity’s fragility and vulnerability. But there is a second tragedy about the tsunami: that despite the heroic efforts of local and international humanitarian workers, the relief and reconstruction effort was marred by examples of duplication, inefficiency and waste. The aftermath of the tsunami highlighted a brutal truth: that as a world we do a remarkably poor job of translating our immediate surge of compassion and cash into effective action to save lives and rebuild shattered communities.

For example, international agencies often failed to work effectively alongside the response of local people and governments. In some cases, the compassion of outsiders smacked headlong into the cold realities of local power politics. The poor, as ever, were last in line, as local power-brokers and village supremos got first dibs on the aid that came in.

Andrew Mitchell MP: Day for Darfur

Andrew Mitchell MP is Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and visited Internally Displaced People camps in Darfur twice last year.

Later this week, thousands of campaigners in over 30 countries will gather in their countries' capitals – including London – to call on their governments to take action on the Darfur conflict, often described as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world and so far responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.  They will press for an immediate ceasefire, allowing real peace talks to take place.  They will also demand that the UK government takes a central role in supporting the UN peacekeeping force to be deployed in the region, providing the much-needed equipment – helicopters, military trucks – that the force will need to operate effectively in the inaccessible terrain in west Sudan.

At the same time, the second anniversary of a landmark shift in international relations will pass.  This time two years ago, decision makers at the UN adopted the 'Responsibility to Protect' principle – acknowledging the UN's role in taking action when states were unwilling or unable to safeguard the security of their own citizens.  A radical break with historical ideas about state sovereignty, this judgement recognised that a state's power could only be respected when the state, in its turn, respected the basic rights of its citizens.

Andrew Mitchell MP: Blair's missed tricks at the G8

Andrew Mitchell is MP for Sutton Coldfield and is Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

Think back to that sweltering, bloody July day almost two years ago when bombers murdered scores of people on the tube. My abiding memory is of cycling home from my office in the Commons and thinking, as I passed through an unusually quiet city, of the death and destruction that had taken place below me. 7/7 will always be a grim anniversary for Britain.

But something else of importance for the world happened that day - and contrasted sharply with the attacks in London. In the luxurious surroundings of the six-star Gleneagles hotel, world leaders leaders queued up to sign a set of ambitious pledges to help the poor. More aid! Freer trade! Drop the Debt!

Andrew Mitchell MP: Our 'Responsibility to Protect' Darfur

Shadow International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell MP reviews the recent visit to Darfur that he made with David Cameron.

"We saw the helicopters bring the soldiers to our village. They killed many people – my father, two of my aunts, my sister and all her little children. We want to go home but how can we when there is no peace?"

These were the chilling words I heard from Zakaria, a father of five, when I accompanied David Cameron this week on our visit to Darfur, the conflict-ridden region in the west of Sudan. Mr Cameron was widely quoted as admitting that nothing had prepared him for the stories he heard or the sights he witnessed in the two camps he visited, which are home to over 100,000 internally displaced people who have fled the government-sponsored violence in Darfur. I cannot imagine how anyone could ever fail to be shocked by the horrifying scenes that we were faced with, but having visited Sudan just six months ago with William Hague, I thought that I would at the very least know what to expect. It therefore came as an even greater shock for me that despite the best efforts of the humanitarian agencies working there, the situation had deteriorated.

For a start, the violence has escalated. Mounted militias, known as the Janjaweed, armed and equipped by the government in Khartoum, have stepped up their campaign of ravaging the countryside. They slaughter civilians indiscriminately, they loot and pillage the villages and rape the women, before burning the remains and moving on to the next target. Estimates vary, but whereas we used to talk of 200,000 deaths during my last visit in April, now the accepted figure is closer to 300,000, and some people have put the number as high as 450,000. The beleaguered African Union force of 7,000 soldiers is chronically overstretched, and without a proper ability to intervene, it is largely powerless to stop the ethnic cleansing.

As a result, the humanitarian situation is bleak. We witnessed the wonderful work being carried out by non-governmental organisations such as Oxfam, who deliver one million litres of water each day to the people in the camps. But the underground reservoirs that they are pumping from are running out. More worryingly, the aid agencies working in the region are woefully vulnerable to attack from the same militias that are slaughtering the local people, and the Government of Sudan is doing very little to help protect them. Just this month, the Norwegian Refugee Council has been forced to close its Darfur operation, which provided humanitarian relief to 300,000 IDPs, due to obstruction by the Sudanese government agencies. This is clearly unacceptable, in a country facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

No-one is suggesting that there is a quick and easy solution to this conflict. But there are four key measures which must be taken now to force the Government of Sudan to put an end to the violence, to allow the aid agencies to go about their work unhindered, and to allow people like Zakaria and his family to return home and rebuild their lives.

Firstly, we need a robust peacekeeping force in the region with a mandate to use force if necessary to protect civilians. We should find the means to bolster the African Union force in Darfur with expertise, equipment and supplies from UN, NATO and individual governments. We should then provide the African Union force with more secure funding. They are currently operating on 3 - 6 month funding parcels - this severely restricts their ability to plan ahead. And we should push for an indefinite extension of the AU mandate beyond 31st Dec 2006.

Secondly, the peace process must be brought back on track. The Addis summit organised last week by Kofi Annan was a step in the right direction, but it by no means solved the conflict. We must pressure the Government of Sudan and rebel groups that did not sign the Darfur Peace Agreement to get back to the negotiating table and hammer out a deal that has the ability to end the conflict. This requires the diplomatic assistance of Egypt and the Arab League and we must enlist their full support.

Thirdly, in order to solve the humanitarian crisis, the Government of Sudan and all combatants must stop impeding and harassing NGOs. Long-term funding for the relief effort should be agreed. Humanitarian workers and convoys should receive greater protection from peacekeeping forces. There are now areas of Darfur, open when I was last there, which today are too dangerous for humanitarian relief to enter.

Fourthly, we must make Khartoum realise that they could be a stable, oil-rich country once the conflict ceases and the Government fulfils its international obligations. And we should also make it clear to them that we are not afraid to take strong action if they do not comply. We should threaten targeted sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on those corrupt members of the Government of Sudan who have been identified by UN-sponsored investigations as responsible for atrocities in Darfur. Additionally, we could investigate, and if necessary press for economic sanctions against, the offshore and international network of businesses owned by and linked to the Government of Sudan. Finally, we should assist the International Criminal Court in its pursuit of all 51 of those accused under the current UN closed list.

The international community agrees that it has the “Responsibility to Protect”, as unanimously agreed in New York last year. We shall see over the coming weeks and months how much this is to mean to those two million men, women and children, and more, who tonight will be huddling together for warmth in the camps in Darfur.

Related links: Andrew Mitchell MP - Britain must lead the international community in getting tough with Khartoum

Andrew Mitchell MP: Britain must lead the international community in getting tough with Khartoum

Andrew Mitchell is Shadow International Development Secretary.

It pains me to admit that I was a government minister at a time when the world failed to act during the 100 days of the Rwandan genocide, in 1994. Now we are witnessing the first genocide of the 21^st century, but this time the ethnic cleansing, rape and looting is in Darfur, in the remote western corner of Sudan.

This time ignorance is no excuse: we cannot pretend we don’t know that the government of Sudan is arming and directing the mainly Arab Janjaweed militias to act as proxies, killing its own black African citizens.

The United Nations Security Council has once again been slow to react, and its resolutions on Darfur have yet to be enforced, thanks to the business connections enjoyed by some members of the Security Council with the National Islamic Front government in Khartoum.

Britain has led the world in the generosity of its prompt humanitarian response to the disaster in the refugee camps in Darfur and neighbouring Chad. Britain has also been instrumental in encouraging other western nations to build the capacity of the African Union and its tiny monitoring mission in Darfur. And the British, along with American and African Union officials, have endured marathon negotiations to clinch a deal of sorts between Khartoum and the Darfur rebel groups.

William Hague MP and Andrew Mitchell MP on Darfur: The World Watches, Weeps... and Dithers

William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary, and Andrew Mitchell, Shadow International Development Secretary, recently visited the Darfur region of Sudan.  They reflect on their visit in this exclusive article for ConservativeHome.com.

“We send our grandmothers to collect the firewood. We know they will be beaten. But we have no choice – if we send our men, they will kill them. If we send our women or our girls, they will rape them.”

A despairing resident of Abu Shouk displaced person’s camp in Northern Darfur described to us the danger of venturing beyond the relative safety of the camp. She explained how her community faces attack from the mounted Janjaweed militia - and the cruel choices that she is forced to make every day.

This Monday we visited two camps near the dusty town of El Fasher, and heard first-hand accounts of the violence and intimidation suffered by the people living there. We spoke to newcomers to the compound, who had been driven from their land near Shafiyee in just the last few days. The villagers were clear in their minds: the Janjaweed that forced them from their land had been armed, abetted and encouraged by their own government. Aid workers told us that despite assurances from Khartoum, the situation on the ground - especially in Western and Southern Darfur – is worsening. While the world watches, weeps and dithers, ethnic cleansing is continuing.

The international community’s strategy for dealing with the crisis in Darfur has never been anything other than anaemic. The deployment of the African Union force in 2004 left the task of protecting the civilians of a region the size of France to 7,000 peacekeepers who are seriously under-equipped and overstretched, and who lack the mandate to do anything other than monitor the country's tenuous cease-fire. The implication was that their presence alone would prevent further violence. Meanwhile the political process has been caught in limbo between warring factions not interested in peace, a government wishing to ward off foreign involvement, and an international community hoping for the best.
Today different agencies estimate that between 180,000 and 300,000 have died in the Darfur region and more than 1.8 million people have been displaced from their homes. Some 200,000 refugees are estimated to have fled westward into neighbouring Chad, while the majority remain trapped in camps in Darfur.

In the context of such suffering, and the blatant and immediate need for humanitarian help on a massive scale, the decision by the Government of Sudan to bar UN Humanitarian Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland from Darfur is as perverse as it is deplorable. It is not, however atypical. The Government appears to pursue a systematic policy of making life difficult for the NGOs and international organisations working to help the people of Darfur. Visa applications for humanitarian workers take weeks to process. Access to essential fuel is limited. Movement between regions is impeded. The obstruction and harassment is subtle but immensely insidious, and seriously affects the ability of the aid agencies to do their job. Such difficulties underline the heroism of the aid workers we met, many from British organisations such as Oxfam and Christian Aid, who are delivering essential services and saving lives in a dangerous and hostile environment. 

The diplomatic, military and humanitarian assistance provided by the international community has managed to stem but not stop the ethnic cleansing, persecution and violence. Some progress has been made: compared with a year ago, casualty rates in Darfur have fallen and humanitarian assistance is reaching displaced peoples with greater consistency. Yet millions of Sudanese still live under the constant threat of violence, hunger and disease; and killings, rapes and other abuses of human rights in Darfur continue to threaten the peace in Sudan as a whole. And we were repeatedly warned that a new crisis is just around the corner – a result of reduced aid funding, restricted access to many camps, and renewed fighting between rival rebel groups, the Government of Sudan, and the Janjaweed militia.   

The Sudanese government is making little effort to stabilise the region, rein in militias or protect civilians. Indeed it seems that it continues to provide military support to the militia scourging Darfur.

On the political level no significant progress has been made in advancing the peace talks in Abuja. Three years after they started a seventh round of peace talks is no closer to ending the war in Darfur. Jack Straw was right to deliver a forceful message to both the Government and the rebels in February. Such pressure should be maintained.

Unfortunately however, international diplomatic initiatives intended to decisively influence Khartoum continue to be thwarted by other countries more interested in pursuing their economic or political advantage than in promoting human rights. Sudan’s status as an Islamic government, oil exporter and a significant importer of arms has proven to be a successful deterrent against any united international action.

The need for security, an inclusive political settlement and an end to impunity

While the Darfur crisis is complex, it was not unexpected, and it is certainly not hopeless. It has unfolded gradually, providing plenty of opportunities for decisive action by the international community. And although many nations have responded, the resolve and unity of the international community have not been commensurate with the seriousness of the crisis. Our strategy for dealing with Darfur is in need of urgent resuscitation. A lasting solution to the Darfur conflict can only come of a strategy that delivers three outcomes:  security, an inclusive political settlement and an end to impunity.

Security on the ground is paramount. The people we met in the camps are Sudanese citizens on Sudanese soil. The Government in Khartoum has systematically rejected its basic responsibility to guarantee their security and meet their humanitarian needs. It is therefore little wonder that the people we spoke to made it clear that they would not feel safe enough to return to their homes until the arrival of an international force with the mandate, capacity and political will to keep the peace. The only practical way to guarantee this is through the UN. The African Union has made a reasonable start. But it clearly lacks the expertise and experience to do the job properly. It should be transformed as soon as possible into a UN-led operation with a beefed-up Chapter Six mandate, backed by extensive logistical help - including air support as necessary- from NATO. Any handover will take at least six months. In the interim, the AU forces should be fully funded, and if possible expanded.

The only way to guarantee security in the long term is through a meaningful ceasefire, observed by both the Government and the rebels. This is a pre-condition of an inclusive political settlement that would address the grievances of all groups in Darfur.

Members of the Government operate in a culture of impunity. This must be challenged. Asset and travel sanctions against individuals responsible for planning and assisting ethnic cleansing in Darfur should be robustly applied. We should insist on Sudan’s cooperation with the special investigations of the International Criminal Court in Darfur in accordance with UN resolution 1593.

If the much-vaunted responsibility to protect, so enthusiastically embraced by the international community last year is to mean anything, we must take decisive action in Darfur. Ethnic cleansing is happening before the eyes of the international community. At the main airport used by the AU forces, we saw Sudanese Government helicopters that, we were told, were being used in attacks. In future years, when we look back at the terrible crimes that were committed in Darfur, we may be able to find excuses and explanations for failing to take sufficient action. But we will certainly not be able to plead ignorance.

Related links: The new website of the Conservative Human Rights group, David Cameron answers ConservativeHome.com's leadership contest question on Darfur and these blogs: Coalition for Darfur, the Darfur blog and The Passion of the Present.

Andrew Mitchell: Blair must be bold to make poverty history

Andrew Mitchell MP is Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

Perhaps it is just as well Tony Blair was forced to spend an extra night in Africa this week after his plane broke down. The delay would have given him more time to reflect that despite his glitzy public relations coup last summer, when he orchestrated the global campaign to make poverty history, progress remains pitifully slow.

War, famine and disease show little sign of relaxing their cruel grip on the Continent for all the Prime Minister’s good intentions.

As world leaders clustered around him at Gleneagles in July to commit to this life and death crusade, the wristband generation took to the streets in their hundreds of thousands, a noisy and enthusiastic chorus for the goals mapped out by their politicians.

At the Live8 concert in Hyde Park, 200,000  people, mostly young, joined forces with their idols from the music world to parade their passionate commitment to the cause.  Worldwide, three billion television viewers watched ten concerts and 1000 artists, and 31 million people texted their mobiles to pledge support.

The pictures were great, the music even better and the sincerity of Blair and the world’s leaders was little in doubt. Everybody felt good and everybody felt good about feeling good.  As Blair said after the Gleneagles conference:  “this could, just could, be the beginning of the end of extreme poverty in our world .”