Daily Darfur: Kumbaya Diplomacy Doesn't Work On Men With Guns

Eric Reeves has a masterful piece in the Christian Science Monitor, calling out the international community for its radio silence after the government of Sudan obstructed a Darfur civil society peace initiatve.

Mandate Darfur, organized by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and endorsed by the likes of Scott Gration, the Arab League, and the African Union, aimed to bring a broad swath of Darfuri civil society leaders together to initiate serious dialogue on peace in a region torn by ethnic and tribal division, which are exploited and exacerbated by the central government. The conference was canceled after Khartoum denied exit visas to many of the conference participants.

Reeves notes:

"Khartoum's obstruction of the Darfurian civil society initiative was greeted with appalling indifference by the world community. There have been none but the mildest condemnations from the United Nations, the US, the European Union, and the African Union. It hardly helps that Western news reporting on this significant development has been virtually nonexistent. Sadly, it is as though the international community has accepted Khartoum's premise that peace talks need involve only combatants.

But if past negotiations between Darfur's rebel groups and the regime have taught us anything, it is that nothing will be achieved if the only ones at the peace table are men with guns."

Indeed, the international community's "accommodationist policy toward Khartoum" has thus far had the effect of distracting the diplomatic community while Khartoum continues with a brutal counterinsurgency. "Peace" in Khartoum's view seems to mean military victory in Darfur, with utter disregard for the loss of civilian life in the process --- the regime has shown absolutely no commitment towards a cessation of hostility, because no one in the international community has given any indication of applying actual pressure for them to do so. This is a military dictatorship that has survived 20 years of constant violence by manipulating both internal and international political dynamics --- and they're doing it again.

This is not, not to say that an international bombing campaign should be underway. Policy analysts have pointed out an array of sticks-and-carrots policy options for leaning on Khartoum. As Reeves writes,

"Khartoum can't be accommodated but must be confronted - vigorously, multilaterally, unrelentingly. The regime must be convinced that there are serious consequences - diplomatic, economic, and political - for reneging on agreements, and for actions that threaten the prospects for peace and security in Darfur."

Engagement may be an effective diplomatic tool, but a kumbaya-approach to a hardline, violent, authoritarian government will just get you played like a cheap fiddle. Reach out your hand, engage --- but do so with a planned strategy that is cognizant of who, exactly, you are dealing with and is backed up by both incentives and disincentives for cooperation or obstruction.

The current approach of the US Envoy (and others) appears to be empowering Khartoum, and making the international community look like fools.

Quickies

Speaking of: US Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration "had very positive meetings" with his counterpart in China, according to a State Department spokesman:

"They discussed deepening US-China cooperation over shared concerns in Sudan," he added.

Still no idea exactly what those "shared concerns" entail.

Presidential Assistant Nafi Ali Nafi (famous, among other things, for telling Condi Rice to "lick her elbow") has asked that another official take his place as the Sudanese government's Darfur negotiator, so that he can concentrate on the country's upcoming elections.

UNAMID evacuated 19 civilians seriously wounded by recent rebel-government clashes in North Darfur.

The Sudanese government ordered UNAMID to stop making statements about government troop movements in Darfur. (For some reason, I find this kind of amusing.)

Photo from WhiteHouse.gov: US Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration briefs President Obama on his trip to Sudan.