Darfuri Activists Frustrated by UNAMID Commander's Remarks

The following piece was written by Mohamed Yahya, founder and director of the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, a network of Darfuri activists in the US. Mohamed takes a different view than I do on last week's comments by the outgoing commander of the UNAMID peacekeeping force: I argued that the comments of military personnel should be taken as assessments of their work rather than of political processes, while Mohamed asserts that the commander is reinforcing the culture of impunity surrounding the regime in Khartoum.

According to various news sources, UNAMID Commander Mr. Agwai, the leader of the African United Nations joint mission in Darfur, stated to media representatives that the Darfur region should no longer be considered a war state. General Agwai was quoted as saying the Darfur genocide is "in the past" and that fighting between rebels and government officials had ceased in the region.

Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy is very disappointed by these statements, but is not surprised by such dialogue. Over the past months, it has been evident through Mr. Agwai's actions and comments that the UNAMID Commander will not challenge African leaders' support for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir by speaking negatively about the Darfur issue or the Sudanese regime. Mr. Agwai also openly opposed the ICC arrest warrant of President Al-Bashir.

Damanga believes that Mr. Agwai's actions are comparable to General Gration, the Special Envoy of the U.S. to Sudan, whose statements have also been supportive of the corrupt Sudanese regime and damaging to the Darfur campaign overall. Both men know the cost of such strong statements: they are working hard to protect the criminals instead of protecting the victims of the genocide. This is an unacceptable notion and very damaging to the reality of the situation in Darfur today.

Mr. Agwai's mission to Darfur has largely been considered a failure; he has not been able to execute the UNAMID vision and mission effectively and thus has made Darfuri refugees more vulnerable to war and violence. He has largely doomed the failure to other causes rather than considering his damaging actions and statements.

As Mr. Agwai and Mr. Gration continue to perpetrate wrong ideas regarding Darfur, leaders of tribes and camps along with their Shaikhs and Omda's are being tortured, harassed, jailed and killed. Women and Girls still raped and brutally humiliated. People within Darfur cities are attacked and arrested and shot down during the day and night.

Damanga would like to remind the international community that this genocide has not ended and remains a very terrible violence that penetrates all three states of the Darfur region. It is getting worst everyday since the Foreign Humanitarian Organizations have been driven out of Sudan and have been replaced by government NGOs that do more harm than good for the Darfuri refugees.

Damanga urges the international community to once again act on behalf of the Darfuri refugees by demanding justice rather than fake peace, urging for efforts to disarm the Janjaweed, support the ICC, and to additionally evacuate those Arabs who are being resettled in Darfuri villages. A solution cannot truly be reached until all of these factions are taken into account.

[Photo from Reuters: United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Force Commander General Martin Luther Agwai.]