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.

The targeting of civilians, the use of starvation as a war tactic, the burning of villages, and the mass raping of women has been well documented in Darfur, as elsewhere in the country.

He has stopped at nothing to maintain power.

Bashir’s guilt or innocence of the charges against him is a matter for the ICC to decide, but showing solidarity with him won’t do anything to address the underlying problems of poverty and impunity, and will only hinder efforts to shore up support to negotiate a ceasefire.

It certainly won’t end the immediate humanitarian crisis caused by Bashir’s expulsion of the aid agencies.

Qatar, the host of the Arab League Summit, had been working to inject energy into the faltering peace process for Darfur, convening a meeting between Khartoum and a key rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

But now, by hosting the indicted president mere weeks after he expelled the aid agencies and issuing a clear statement of support for Bashir, Qatar’s credibility and viability as a host and convener of peace talks must be called into question.

JEM has already quit the talks in protest over the humanitarian situation.

Rather than choosing politics over humanity and privileging the appearance of Arab unity over concern for the people of Darfur, the Arab League might have condemned Bashir’s expulsion of the aid agencies and his harassment of Sudanese human rights defenders.

A statement by Arab leaders acknowledging the atrocities and violence committed by government forces would have had a deep impact in Khartoum.

Even better would have been a statement urging all friends and neighbours of Sudan to let the Court do its work.

All nations should be doing everything in their power to push all parties to the table, to meaningfully include women in peace talks, and to ensure justice and reconciliation for the people of Sudan.

The Arab world has long criticised America’s seeming blindness when it comes to Israel and Palestine.

Responding in kind when it comes to President Bashir does nothing to end the suffering of either the Palestinians or the Darfuris.

Just as US administrations have applied a double standard for Israelis and Palestinians, so now the Arab League applies a double standard for Khartoum and Darfur. Legitimate critiques of Israeli policy might be taken more seriously if they were consistently applied and the same concern for the Palestinian people was shown also for the Darfuris.

Jody Williams is recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work to eliminate landmines, and chairs the Nobel Women’s Initiative, a group founded by six women Nobel Peace Laureates in 2006.