One of …[Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s] first actions after the arrest warrant was to undertake yet another crime against humanity: He expelled major international aid groups, including the International Rescue Committee and the Dutch section of Doctors Without Borders. In effect, he is now preparing to massacre the Darfuri people in still another way, for Darfuris are living in camps and depend on aid workers for food, water and health care ”” even as deadly meningitis has broken out in one of the camps.
“The consequences are going to be dire,” notes George Rupp, the president of the International Rescue Committee, on which 1.75 million Sudanese depend for water, sanitation, education and health care. “If Sudan persists in this decision, it’s difficult to see how the outcome will be anything other than serious suffering and death for hundreds of thousands of people.”
Mr. Bashir is now testing the international community, and President Obama and other world leaders must respond immediately and decisively, in conjunction with as many non-Western nations as possible.
Follow up: This related NPR story which I caught driving home last night is worthwhile also.
I know the Sudanese refugees, and the Anglican church in Sudan, are deeply concerned about what the effects of this action may be on their people. I’m not a fan of the International Criminal Court in general, although of course neither I nor any decent person could be a supporter of what Bashir has done or allowed to be done in Sudan. The right answer here is hard to see, other than a replacement of the regime with a modern secular state. That’s not going to happen anytime soon; Sudan has been a human rights problem area for many generations.
This would seem to be another of those situations, like Rwanda, in which we shall kick ourselves in years to come for not intervening with military force – but if the rest of the world won’t help ….? Perhaps we should leave Europe to its own devices and begin to help the poor and helpless around the globe with our military might.
Where’s Desmond Tutu on this business? It’s close to home for him, isn’t it?