The world has failed Darfur for four years

In a statement issued today Shadow International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell identifies Darfur as "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world" today.  He is surely right but it has been said a thousand times before and nothing substantial has been done to stop the slaughter by the Khartoum-backed Jangaweed militia.  Britain and America are bogged down in Iraq.  NATO is struggling to meet its obligations in Afghanistan.  The EU failed in its own Balkans backyard and is still failing today.  Russian and Chinese vetoes mean that the UN is repeating the tragedy of Rwanda.  The African Union lacks will and airpower.  Click here to see Globe for Darfur's hard-hitting photo campaign in which celebrities including Matt Damon and Hugh Grant drop hourglasses filled with blood.

Andrew Mitchell's full statement:

“Darfur is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Yet shamefully, after four years of misery, the international community hasn't even begun to turn the screws on the bullies in Khartoum.  The Government of Sudan believe they can string us along with promises that they break as soon as our backs are turned. No wonder they think they can paint planes full of weapons and ammunition in UN colours. No wonder they try to prevent World Food Programme shipments getting to those in need in the camps.  The truth about bullies is that they are cowards. The international community must stand up to them. Tony Blair, in the last days of his premiership, should take the lead.  We need to enforce targeted sanctions against the regime's leaders by freezing their bank accounts and applying travel bans to stop their shopping trips to Paris and London. And we should chip away at the network of businesses and charities that enrich the regime and its members.
   
“Our top priority now must be to press for an immediate end to the violence. All combatants should cease fighting and allow unimpeded access for humanitarian agencies.   We need to see the rapid deployment of a larger, better equipped and better mandated international force to protect the people of Darfur. In the meantime, the world must offer full support to the African Union troops who are doing a brave job in very difficult circumstances.  The ultimate solution to this crisis will be a political settlement that addresses the causes of the conflict, and of Sudan's wider struggles. Meaningful international pressure can help achieve this.  The people of Darfur deserve more than another round of toothless diplomacy and bluffing and manoeuvring from the Sudanese Government.”

Related BritainAndAmerica link:  Will the world act now in Darfur?

Comments

[Felicity Mountjoy]

Those celebrity photos are disturbing but not unwarranted.

[simon]

Well 'genocide' in Darfur has been going on for four years (according to the perma-tanned Labour radical Peter Hain). Why hasn't 'team america' gone in with the NRA with all guns blazing? Could it be to quote Alan Clark that it's happening in 'bongo bongo land', so therefore nobody really cares as to what is going on out there? let's face it, in the whole Africa is a mess, and the continent needs to sort itself out on it's own. Handwringing on our part will do nout to improve the situation there. Let the Africans sort themselves out.

[Scotty]

It is at times like this that I despair of the UN and all those countries who try to claim the moral high ground regarding reluctance to intervene when a country reaches this kind of crisis.
This is Rwanda all over again and it makes me ashamed that there is no united will from the rest of the world to help.

[Editor]

I agree Scotty. Those who always extol international law must answer the charge that the members of its court - the UN - are economically compromised.

[Matt Davis]

"This is Rwanda all over again and it makes me ashamed that there is no united will from the rest of the world to help.W

I couldn't agree more Scotty, however the question that we need to ask is why that will doesn't exist.

[TomTom]

There are 5 Permanent Members of the Security Council......two are busy in Afghanistan and Iraq

I suggest Russia, China, and France be approached with regard to Darfur...they are the other components in this much-vaunted multipolar world

[Alan S]

Russia, China and France are too busy pursuing their commercial interests in despotic regions TomTom to do anything ethical.

Hat tip to Andrew Mitchell for keeping on this cause... Will he have the guts to reform the UN though?

[Pisaboy]

Somehow I doubt it Alan.

[Alan S]

The UN is a leaning tower, Pisaboy, that with a series of pushes might be toppled. Something better might then be erected in its place.

[TomTom]

Something better might then be erected in its place.

I very much doubt it - at its heart the UN carries two contradictory messages which Roosevelt and Stalin embodied.

It was the Big Powers installing themselves as Guardians of World Order yet at the same time the USSR and USa sought to dismantle the British and French Empires thus flooding the General Assembly with ideologically-driven states who could create chaos and disorder in Africa, Asia and the Middle East