• Africa: An end to the nightmare? Africa: An end to the nightmare? From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch April 5, 2005 In a welcome move, resulting in part from an about-face by the Bush administration, the U.N. Security Council has
• Africa: An end to the nightmare?
Africa: An end to the nightmare?
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch April 5, 2005
In a welcome move, resulting in part from an about-face by the Bush administration, the U.N. Security Council has voted to give the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan.
This development could help end the terror that Arab militias, called janjaweed, have inflicted on Darfur in northwest Sudan. These pro-government militias have been blamed for widespread violence, including rapes, arson, the displacement of over 2 million African villagers and the killing of 180,000 more. Some development groups say the death toll is twice that number.
The vote for ICC jurisdiction in Darfur was one of three Security Council resolutions that promises to bring stability not only to Darfur but to Sudan in general. The council approved the deployment of 10,000 troops to Sudan’s southern region to monitor the peace accord that ended the 20-year-old North-South war. The council also agreed to impose sanctions against militia leaders responsible for the violence in Darfur. The measure also forbids the central government to send arms to Darfur without U.N. permission.
But the most significant development involves the U.S. decision to back away from its objections to the resolution for ICC action. Based in the Hague, the ICC was set up to handle catastrophes like the slaughter in Darfur. The Bush administration has consistently questioned the legitimacy of the ICC.
The administration’s objections have been based on concerns that the court could be used to prosecute the U.S. military or its citizens. In previous Security Council resolutions in 2002 and 2003, the United States got immunity from ICC prosecution of U.S. soldiers involved in U.N.-approved peacekeeping missions. Following prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the administration shouldn’t have been surprised at being rebuffed last June in its bid for renewal of that immunity.
During the lead-up to Thursday night’s vote, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice worked out a compromise. It gives nations that contribute troops exclusive jurisdiction over the arrests of any of their citizens abroad. That measure spared the United States the embarrassment of vetoing efforts to arrest and prosecute suspects for war crimes that the Bush administration has called genocide.
After doing nothing to prevent genocide in Rwanda, the world body promised never to allow it to happen again. The Security Council’s resolutions offer hope that, after months of hand-wringing, the world is ready to end the nightmare in Darfur.
