19 June 2000
NGO Director Targets Sudan Genocide
(Daylong conference addresses humanitarian abuses and U.S role) (690) By Corrie A. White Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- U.S. aid to Sudan surpasses that of "all other donor nations," but such assistance must not be used as a "political weapon" against the African nation, says Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom (a branch of the non-governmental organization Freedom House). Shea, keynote speaker at a June 13 conference on Sudan held in Washington and sponsored by the Claremont Institute, outlined a plan of action, developed by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, that called for U.S. involvement concerning the Sudanese "genocide." (Though the House of Representatives declared in June 1999 that the atrocities occurring in Sudan fall under the term "genocide," the State Department has yet to do so.) More than two million Sudanese have been killed and four million have been displaced in the 45-year-long war by the ruling National Islamic Front (NIF), whose systematic persecution of the non-Muslim and Christian South continues, Shea said. Highlights of the commission's plan, Shea said, include: -- increasing economic pressure on the NIF regime by restricting foreign companies involved in the oil market from raising money in U.S. capital markets; -- ensuring that food aid reaches communities outside the U.N. system and strengthening an infrastructure to sustain civilian life; and -- designating a special coordinator for humanitarian aid distribution in Sudan to ensure that aid is not being used as a "political weapon." The commission, which advises President Clinton on strengthening religious freedom and combating religious persecution worldwide, also recommended that the Department of State issue an opinion about whether Khartoum's atrocities actually constitute genocide under international law. According to the United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan (UNOLS) agreement, the U.S. government "honors Khartoum's veto over food delivery," said Shea. This means that the international community can do nothing to aid the southern population in the Blue Nile region against what she called the "calculated starvation" implemented by the Sudanese government. Complicating the issue of how the United States is responding to Sudan has been the discovery of oil in southern Sudan. As William Saunders, representing the Family Research Council (a non-partisan, non-profit educational organization supporting Judeo-Christian family values) noted, "oil has allowed Sudan to pay off a $2 million debt to the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and is now allowing the government to buy arms and continue the ethnic cleansing [within Sudan] with more power than before." In 1997, Shea recalled, President Clinton issued an executive order barring trade with Sudan and imposing financial sanctions against the country "on grounds of terrorism and gross human rights violations." However, Shea characterized U.S. policy on Sudan in the past three years as "wildly erratic, contradictory, and ineffective" -- in part because of the non-governmental relief sector, "who risked losing large contracts should UNOLS be reformed to make relief support politically neutral." Then there are firms such as Goldman Sachs -- which is underwriting large Chinese accounts with interests in Sudan -- which are business sector voices advocating that the United States "engage" Sudan instead of treating it as a pariah state, Shea said. Congressman Ed Royce, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, agreed with Shea's idea of "moral imperatives," which she said go to the "heart of American identity." "We have a moral responsibility to prevent the unfolding of a Rwanda-type situation [in Sudan] in slow motion," Royce said. Margaret Deng, a Sudanese citizen from southern Sudan who now lives in the United States, said she supported the call for U.S. action, noting that "we need our rights in the South." Deng blames the United Nations for human rights abuses in Sudan. "If the U.N. gave rights to East Timor, Kosovo, and Bosnia, then why not southern Sudan?" she said. In Deng's opinion, the United Nations "should force Sudan's government to allow them access to all areas to distribute food and aid." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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