home > by publication type > daily analysis > Sudan Remains Defiant on UN Troops
Email
| Prepared by: |
|---|
The UN will not deploy a peacekeeping force to Darfur without Sudan's consent. (AP)
The UN Security Council has authorized a large peacekeeping mission for Sudan’s violence-plagued Darfur region, while demonstrations around the world have urged its deployment (CNN). But the government of Sudan refuses, most recently during this address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, posing a dilemma for world leaders gathering at UN headquarters this week. Amid news that the Sudanese government has started to bomb villages (HRW), and a new study in Science claiming Darfur's death toll has been severely underreported (NYT), the UN Security Council is paralyzed: Resolution 1706 calls for a 20,000-strong UN peacekeeping force, yet it also guarantees that such a force will not be deployed without the Sudanese government’s consent. Writing in the Washington Post, Eric Reeves, an expert on Darfur, asks: “With the clear prospect of humanitarian collapse and massive civilian destruction, will the world continue to defer to Khartoum’s claims of national sovereignty?” He decries the international community’s abandonment of its “responsibility to protect” civilians who are victims of genocide, a commitment made at the September 2005 UN summit. With no prospect for movement on the UN peacekeeping troops, this week the African Union (AU) extended the mandate (BBC) of its Darfur peacekeeping force, which had been due to leave on September 30, until the end of the year. Sudan welcomed the decision, but international observers say the AU force is weak and poorly managed.
President Bush, who addressed the UN General Assembly on Tuesday and announced the appointment of Andrew Natsios as his special envoy for Darfur (WashPost), has also indicated his frustration with UN inaction. In a speech last week, he seemed to reject the idea that Khartoum must consent to the UN force: “What you’ll hear is… the government of Sudan must invite the United Nations in for us to act. Well, there are other alternatives.” Some suggest unilateral military action. “Multilateralism is important—but only if it gets results,” says CFR Senior Fellow Michael Gerson, a former advisor to Bush. “Sometimes, compassion requires action—and helicopter gunships” (CBS).
Others recommend the diplomatic route. John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group says both the United States and the United Nations have allowed the Sudanese government to outmaneuver them diplomatically (WashPost). In an interview with CFR.org’s Bernard Gwertzman, CFR Senior Fellow Lee Feinstein says the United States has not yet launched a “systematic, diplomatic campaign that would bring along other countries and have real leverage with Khartoum.” Some analysts say a new, weakened draft of U.S. Senate legislation that would have put significant financial pressure on the Sudanese government proves Washington's inability to take strong action on Darfur (FT).
Many, including Feinstein, think a solution lies with one of the countries that abstained from the Security Council vote on Resolution 1706: China. “If China were to say, ‘You’ve got to do this,’ they would begin to think twice about resisting,” Feinstein tells the Chicago Tribune. Beijing purchased 50 percent of Sudan’s oil exports in 2005, and though foreign ministry spokesperson Qin Gang maintains, “China has no selfish interests over the Darfur issue,” its lack of action on Darfur is glaring. James Traub writes in the New York Times Magazine that China is a “status quo” power that increasingly uses its position as a veto-wielding Security Council member to protect abusive regimes with which it enjoys close ties.
This Backgrounder documents the history of the Darfur crisis, and a National Geographic video explains the factors that have fueled the ongoing conflict.
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
In The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the Bush administration’s struggle to balance security and openness in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report argues that the United States must lead with domestic action on climate change and proposes a U.S. negotiating strategy for a global UN climate agreement that includes commitments from all major economies, while also promoting a less formal Partnership for Climate Cooperation that would focus the world's largest emitters on implementing aggressive emissions reductions.
This Task Force report examines changes in Latin America and in U.S. influence there, while taking account of the region's enduring importance to the United States. The Task Force offers an agenda for U.S. policy toward Latin America and identifies four critical areas that should provide the basis of a new U.S. approach.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR.
In this report, CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi analyzes the potential use of deterrence in preventing terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons and recommends a new approach to U.S. declaratory policy, as well as ways to improve U.S. capabilities to determine the sources of terrorist attacks.
In this report, Bruce W. MacDonald illuminates the strategic landscape of military space competition between the United States and China and highlights the dangers and opportunities the United States confronts in space.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
“ The Latter-Day Sultan:” Akbar Ganji says that blaming Iran's problems on President Ahmadinejad inaccurately suggests that Iran's problems will go away when Ahmadinejad does.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1-212-434-9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
To request permission to reuse Council materials, please email publications@cfr.org or fax +1.212.434.9859.
Please include the complete information of the requested work—author, title, sections/pages to be copied or reprinted, and number of copies to be made—along with a brief description of where and how you would like to reuse the work.
You may also request permission for Council material through Copyright Clearance Center. For more information, please click on the link below.
Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.
