2007 G8 Summit Magazine - (Page 60) European Union Presidency capacity hosted celebrations of the EU’s 50th anniversary, was Darfur for the first time brought publicly onto the highest leadership agendas. As Chancellor Merkel pronounced: “The suffering there is unbearable. We must look at stronger sanctions.” But there has been no such action. “Looking” is not enough. Khartoum continues to bask in impunity. EU Foreign Ministers have by now registered their sixtieth expression of “concern,” but have done nothing. Nor have other G8 states done much better, whether at the national or the multilateral level. One actually supported the Khartoum regime in the UN’s Human Rights Council when it sought to have rejected the report of the Council’s own high-level delegation earlier this year on the Kafka-esque ground that the delegation had not visited Darfur – why? Because Sudan refused the delegation visas! Global diplomacy on Darfur has for four years been fragmented and ineffective, to the extent that no single objective has ever been agreed and no serious pressure has been applied. On those rare occasions when international focus coalesced, attention has been short-term (as with the failed Darfur Peace Agreement and its aftermath) or it dissipated in the face of Khartoum’s stonewalling (as after the November 2006 Addis Ababa “deal” on the UN/ AU hybrid force). Four years on, this is a pretty disgraceful record. Worse looms. It will be the world’s leaders, who did not act when they could, who will bear responsibility alongside the actual authors of the genocide. A different outcome, however, is within reach. Darfur is not the most complex or insoluble conflict in history, just the most neglected. First and foremost, coherent international diplomacy is essential. The parade of envoys to Khartoum, each with different messages, must end if Darfur is to survive. The regime has used these visits to buy time for genocide. Envoys have been played | -60- off against each other, lied to casually. The regime has concluded that it can act as it wishes; who can gainsay that? Sustained diplomatic coalition building must begin now, to deliver a clear, coherent and effective message to Khartoum that the killing must end, peace must be achieved and return and reconstruction must begin. Arab and African countries must be drawn into this effort, as must China. must also be provided to maintain and expand humanitarian operations. It is a disgrace that only 18% of needed funds for refugees in neighboring Chad have been made available. In the longer run, the G8 must begin now preparing the massive endeavor of returning 2.5 million displaced persons home across this vast devastated area, and restoring the possibility of normal life for Darfur’s people. Who is more capable to be the nucleus of such an effort than the G8 countries? Second, the failure of diplomacy alone must be acknowledged and acted upon. It is obvious: mere talk will not move Khartoum to end the killing, to stop obstructing humanitarian aid, to participate honestly in the peace process the AU and U.N. are working to advance, or to stop spreading this conflict across international borders. This regime is carrying out a calculated attack on its own people and on the most basic international standards. Doing so apparently costs it less than scorched earth war against ordinary Darfurians. That calculation must change. That means giving muscle to diplomacy, giving diplomats leverage to succeed. Targeted pressure ended regime support for al-Qaeda, use of child slavery and mass killing in the South. It can end the genocide in Darfur. Who better to mobilize these resources than the G8 countries? The world often wonders: what use is the G8? Great to get together, nice to talk, some silly clothes, but what’s it all mean for the real world? Two years ago, at Gleneagles, and again here in Heiligendamm, G8 leaders have put tough but critical questions of African development on their agenda. That goal is tied inextricably to peace and security. Darfur is a daily assault on G8 goals. The world looks to G8 leaders to achieve something that matches the capacity for good of the countries they lead. Darfur is a test for the G8. That test has been failed since Gleneagles. Let it not be failed a second time. Lawrence Rossin is the Senior International Coordinator of the U.S.based Save Darfur Coalition. He is a retired American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, and also served as U.N. Assistant Secretary General and deputy head of peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and Haiti. G8 Who better to unite the world behind such pressure than the G8 countries? Finally, resources must be mobilized to sustain the people of Darfur until the genocide is ended and a political settlement allows them to begin rebuilding their shattered lives, economy and culture, and to reconcile those victimized and those instrumentalized by Khartoum during this conflict. Adequate and reliable funding must flow to the AMIS force, as Senegal and Rwanda have demanded. Any issues with AU management of this relationship must be addressed forthrightly; abandonment is not an option. Funds
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