In June 1989 Omar Hassan al-Bashir overthrew by military force the democratically elected civilian government of Prime Minister Sadeq al-Madhi.  Four years later in October 1993 he dissolved the military junta that ushered him into power and immediately appointed himself civilian president.  His plan was to establish an Islamic government under strict sharia law throughout Africa’s largest country.  After nearly two decades fighting the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in a failed effort to impose Khartoum’s oppressive Islamic Movement on the Christian/Animist southern region, his government signed a fragile peace agreement with the rebel South in 2004.  Even though al-Bashir vowed to exercise sovereignty by fiat: “I will purge from our ranks the renegades, hirelings, enemies of the people and of the armed forces…  Anyone who betrays the nation does not deserve the honor of living”, Africa wined and dined him in high places, even nominating him a few years ago to head the Organization of African Unity (AOU), now the African Union (AU).

Over years of constant bombardment I had personally witnessed the terror and horrific suffering of the peoples of Southern Sudan, both in the country itself and in the desperate lives of tens of thousands in the refugee camp across the border in Kakuma, Kenya. Because of my years of involvement in assisting to rescue the children of Southern Sudan, I have kept well informed about the horrors perpetrated by the government in Khartoum, using both religion and rape as tools of mind-boggling oppression, displacing millions and killing up to two million in southern Sudan alone, all with impunity while the international community stood by silently.  I can’t recall a single UN Security Council resolution condemning these attacks throughout the 1990s. 

As the military conflict in the South was drawing to a precarious close, an even more vicious one was beginning in the North, dealing ruthlessly with both Black Muslim and non-Muslim opponents.  Refugees from Darfur report that following indiscriminate air raids by government military forces, the Arab Janjaweed  invade villages on horses and camels, slaughtering men, raping women, burning and looting at will.  While the Khartoum government denies supporting the Janjaweed militias, it does nothing to prevent them from trying to “cleanse” black Africans from large areas of Western Sudan occupied by the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups.

Political leaders from around the world repeatedly visit Darfur, condemn the atrocities, calling them crimes against humanity and genocide; human rights activists demonstrate on the streets and discuss in the capitals of many nations, yet nothing has been done.  Many reliable reports put the death toll at 300,000 with over two million displaced, either having fled into neighboring Chad or in miserable, disease-ridden refugee camps along the border, still remaining vulnerable to attacks from Sudan

Is there any hope at all for our brothers and sisters in Darfur?  Yes, but it is already being threatened.  After Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague asked the court for an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir a few days ago, the African Union (AU), through its president, Jakaya Kikwete, has appealed to the UN Security Council to block an indictment of al-Bashir.  Khalil Ibrahim, head of the Justice and Equality Movement in Sudan, points out that “The AU is a biased organization which protects dictators and neglects the African people”.  The Arab League angrily denounced the call for the arrest warrant, stating that it would not tolerate such a humiliation for an Arab Head of State.  What an incriminating disregard for the lives of millions of innocent victims?  Even such a distinguished scholar as Professor Ali Mazrui appeared on BBC this week telling the ICC to leave al-Bashir alone because Sudan is a sovereign state!  As expected, after defending President(?) Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe before the UN Security Council, both China and Russia oppose the ICC’s move against al-Bashir.  (Interesting to note that Russia, China, Sudan and the U.S. refused to sign on to the establishment of the ICC in 2002)

The irony of the whole tragic situation is the subtle, devious argument proffered by those who are demanding a total negation or at least a suspension of the ICC indictment.  It claims that the crisis over a possible arrest warrant would jeopardize the peace process in Sudan and, given the situation, peace is more urgent than justice.  Suddenly peace and justice become mutually exclusive?  A Darfuri refugee defiantly asked, “What peace process?  There is little peace to go around.  We cry out for justice.  Arrest al-Bashir no matter what threats.  There can be no greater pain, nor more suffering than we have already been forced to endure.”  Surely, this anguished refugee understands better than the African Union, the Arab League and the United Nations that if you really want peace, you must work for justice!

With yesterday’s arrest of Bosnian Serb wartime president Radovan Karadzic and his impending transfer to the Hague Tribunal, is there finally some hope for peace with justice for this poor Darfuri and for the hundreds of thousands who agonize with him?

fr. Bert Ebben, O.P.

Ongata-Rongai, Kenya

23 July 2008