United States Wants Action, Not Words for Darfur
11 October 2005
U.S. Ambassador Bolton objects to Security Council briefing
By Judy Aita
Washington File Staff Writer
United Nations -- In an effort to emphasize that the Security Council must be more active in trying to improve security in Sudan's Darfur region, the United States blocked a briefing by a U.N. human rights envoy October 10.
"The real issue we should be talking about is the deteriorating security situation," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told journalists after a closed council meeting during which the council was briefed on Darfur by Under Secretary-General Hedi Annabi.
Annabi told the council that the situation in Darfur has been deteriorating over the past six weeks. Following his briefing, the United States, China, Algeria and Russia prevented Juan Mendez, U.N. special adviser for the prevention of genocide, from conducting a separate briefing on his recent visit to Darfur.
"Why isn't the council talking more about steps it could take to do something about the deteriorating security situation? That's what the council should be talking about and not who's sitting in what chair," Bolton said. "How many officials from the secretariat does it take to give a briefing?
"My concern with this briefing is that we don't simply react from incident to incident, but that the council try and look at the bigger picture and try to put a more effective, more comprehensive policy in place," Bolton said.
For example, the ambassador continued, “We have to consider whether the sanctions that are in place are working or whether there are other steps the council should take, steps other than talking.”
"We have got to decide if we're going to do something or sit around here hearing briefings and issue another press statement and wash our hands for another four to five months," another U.S. official said on the condition of anonymity.
Bolton also said that since he became the chief U.S. envoy to the United Nations, he has been trying to analyze how the Security Council deals with difficult situations such as Darfur and how the council "can most effectively contribute."
At a press conference, Mendez, the U.N. special adviser, said that during his September visit he found the situation "more dangerous and worrisome" than he expected, with renewed fighting, especially in north and south Darfur, and unprecedented indiscriminate attacks against civilians in two camps for internally displaced persons. "It's an escalation of violence against civilians," he explained.
"There hasn't been any move to disarm the Jingaweit, not even a plan," Mendez said. "No one even talks about Jingaweit any more. ... I don't have any doubt that a fighting force that has ties to the government of Sudan is still operating."
Unless the Jingaweit is disarmed, "we will be muddling through in ways that [make] new outbreaks of violence against civilians … more likely than in the last six months," the envoy said.
"International public opinion has not paid as much attention to Darfur as it should," he said, "and we have assumed the African Union [AU] is taking care of business. In a way, we are setting up the AU to an impossible task."
The situation in Darfur is stabilized "in a way that is unacceptable and now beginning to show signs of breaking up again," Mendez said. "So this is the moment we have to strengthen what the international community is doing."
Mendez recommended that the AU peacekeeping presence be strengthened and given more financial help. The international community must "stop paying lip service and put pressure on the government of Sudan" to allow the AU to fulfill its mandate and also to cooperate with the International Criminal Court [ICC]."
"I am convinced that the government of Sudan is saying they don't need the ICC and don't feel bound by the decisions of the Security Council."
Traveling in Geneva October 10, Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that the increasing violence in Darfur may force the United Nations to suspend some aid operations.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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