Condoned in Darfur, condemned in Palestine

It has been six years and the low-level of violence that began in the Darfur region of Sudan has long since been transformed into relentless and systematic mass atrocities against civilians carried out by government-backed militias and government forces.

On March 4, the International Criminal Court indicted Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On March 5, Bashir further imperilled the lives of 4.7 million people by expelling international and national aid organisations from Darfur.

On March 30, Arab leaders, knowing all of this, met at the Arab League Summit in Doha and, in their words, “stressed our solidarity with Sudan and our rejection of the ICC decision [to indict Bashir]”.

I wish I could say that the words of these men — spoken many millions of miles from the stark reality of Darfur — are irrelevant. But they matter.

The words condone President Bashir’s willingness to deny aid to the people of Darfur.

They boost Bashir’s efforts to defy the ICC arrest warrant.

They privilege politics over human rights and tell the people of Darfur there is nothing Bashir can do to them that would put at risk the support of his allies.

Furthermore, the words undermine the ICC — an international institution with 139 member states.

The violence in Darfur is not straightforward, nor is its resolution simple.

The rebel groups are fractious and disorganised and are themselves guilty of violations and atrocities.

Guns are everywhere and livelihoods are nowhere.

Nobody knows for sure what will bring the violence to an end, nor what is needed to repair a society torn apart at the seams.

What is clear, though, is that the path chosen by the Arab League at their recent Summit was unconstructive.

President Bashir has presided over bloody and repressive counter-insurgencies against rebels in South, East, and Western Darfur.