NOTE from Sudan Watch Ed: This report was written in Dutch by Prof Jan Pronk of The Netherlands, UN Special Envoy to Sudan from 2004 to 2006.
Google Translator enabled me to produce the following translation but it doesn't do justice to his excellent English, communication and writing skills.
Hopefully, readers will make allowances for this version that's been stripped of the personality and character of a great humanitarian by a machine.
Opinion editorial from NRC Netherlands - https://www.nrc.nl/
By JAN PRONK
Dated 05 May 2023 - full copy, translated from original Dutch version:
Jan Pronk: "Sudan? Europe is busy with itself"
Sudan Diplomatic pressure was minimal, economic sanctions were not forthcoming, the arms trade flourished. In the run-up to the civil war in Sudan, the international community has looked away, writes Jan Pronk
Photo Gueipeur Denis Sassou / AFP)
Was to prevent the civil war in Sudan, which erupted last month? When conflicts arise mainly from deeper internal contradictions – ethnic, religious or economic – it is difficult to get a grip on them from the outside. We learned that lesson. International intervention consists mainly of humanitarian aid.
And UN peacekeeping operations, if they take place at all, are given a limited mandate: protect victims and try to stabilize the situation so that conflict parties can seek a political solution themselves. But no matter how limited that ambition is compared to thirty years ago, the results are small. More and more countries in Africa and Asia are plagued by internal conflicts of violence. The number of victims and refugees is increasing alarmingly.
Sudan, too, has been hit by deep divisions since it gained independence in 1956. The civil war between North and South claimed hundreds of thousands of victims. He ended in 2012 with the declaration of South Sudan as an independent state. The genocide in Darfur, shortly after the beginning of this century, is not yet history. Throughout Sudan, North and South, ethnic conflicts continue to cause casualties.
Throughout Sudan, North and South, ethnic conflicts continue to cause casualties. Contradictions between Islamic fundamentalists and others are becoming sharper. The distance between the population in the Nile Delta and beyond is increasing. Economic inequality is widening. Young people see less and less perspective.
But the battle between President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's army and the militias of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (aka Hemedti) is mainly about power and control over the country's wealth. Other contradictions were subordinated to the interests of the army and paramilitaries.
But while the underlying contradictions cannot be easily influenced from the outside, the outside world did have the opportunity to prevent the current brutal power struggle. That has not been done.
On horseback and by camel
When an uprising broke out in Darfur in 2003 against the regime in Khartoum, President Bashir, who had come to power in a military coup in 1990, tried to defeat the guerrillas by deploying militias of Arab tribes.
The army couldn't do it alone. Many soldiers were from Darfur themselves and unwilling to go all out. The militias did. They were given carte blanche and made no distinction between rebels and unarmed civilians.
The army cooperated with them by carrying out bombing raids. The population fled in panic and fell prey to pursuers on horseback and by camel. Villages were set on fire and wiped off the map. Immediately afterwards, the militias disappeared like snow in the sun, until another attack. Four hundred thousand people died.
Two million others fled to camps in Darfur and Chad, across the border. They were received by the UN and aid workers, but were not safe there.
Bashir and his predecessors had used the same tactic before, in the fight against the South. It was a tried and tested method and it cost Khartoum little. The militias were allowed to loot and loot at will.
In Darfur they were known as the Janjaweed: 'Devils with a horse and a gun'. They did not need heavier weapons to kill women, children and unarmed elderly men. Large parts of Darfur were ethnically 'cleansed'.
Villages were set on fire and wiped off the map
The international uproar over the genocide was great. Then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan personally negotiated with Bashir in Khartoum and reached an agreement. The Janjaweed would be disarmed. But that didn't happen. The Security Council protested, but did not act.
The killing continued. Negotiations between the government and the rebels resulted in a peace agreement, but that did not last. The army attacked villages where it suspected that the villagers were sheltering rebels, even though the inhabitants themselves adhered to the truce.
The international outrage over the actions of the Janjaweed and the army was not followed up. Bashir was summoned by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He didn't come.
If he visited another country, he was obliged to arrest him. That didn't happen. He visited Qatar, met the new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, who was content to shake his hand.
The Security Council kept quiet so as not to jeopardize Bashir's agreement to South Sudan's coming independence. The regime got away with everything. So does the Janjaweed. Diplomatic pressure was minimal. There was no political pressure. Economic sanctions as well. The arms trade flourished.
The Janjaweed were transformed into Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The former genocide perpetrators received support from the European Union to guard Sudan's borders and stop refugees who wanted to move to Europe via Chad and Libya. Brussels hypocrisy at its best.
Gulf states jump into the hole
In 2018, civilians revolted against the regime. For the first time in thirty there was a loud call for democracy. Bashir was jailed on charges of corruption — not war crimes.
The new ruler Burhan promised to cooperate in the formation of a civilian government. It came for a while, but was sent away two years later by the military and the RSF with combined forces. The Janjaweed-new-style resumed cooperation with the army.
It was agreed to integrate the militias into the army, but they now had so many weapons and money that they felt strong enough to resist. That was the beginning of this civil war.
The civilian population was defeated and slaughtered. The outside world had looked to the side for the umpteenth time. Foreigners were picked up in haste, as they were in Afghanistan, Rwanda and Vietnam. It stands in stark contrast to the EU's treatment of African, Arab and Asian refugees trying to escape war, oppression and genocide.
China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states are jumping into the gap left by Europe. The EU lacks a vision of Sudan and other countries in the region. Things are just as bad there. In Chad it was unsettled, in Ethiopia war was fought this year. Eritrea and Egypt are ruled by dictators.
Somalia is being held hostage by the al-Shabab terror group. In Uganda, repression of dissenters is on the rise. Eastern Congo and the Central African Republic are prey for warlords. Libya is falling apart.
Europe is busy with itself. The problems are indeed great. But those who look away from the problems across the border become problem owners. We already are.
View original: https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2023/05/05/soedan-europa-heeft-het-druk-met-zichzelf-a4163865
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