home > about cfr > leadership and staff > sundaa a. bridgett jones > No Justice, No Peace in Sudan
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November 15, 2008
The Root
For a split second, a recent essay on The Root called "Sudan on the Rebound?" allowed me to feel a bit hopeful. The images of commerce, opportunity and multiculturalism in a bustling East African town-in Sudan, no less-conjured fond memories of my own travels. Those memories abruptly faded with Zachariah Mampilly's suggestion that seeking justice in Sudan at this time is too great of a price to pay for much needed peace. I respectfully disagree.
Peace or justice? A simple enough question, right? Let's consider the case of Sudan.
The Sudanese bear the crushing weight of a 22-year civil war that has resulted in 2.5 million deaths in Darfur and southern Sudan, 7 million people displaced, and over 1,500 villages burned.
In March 2005, the United Nation's Security Council, under the authority of the U.N. Charter, referred the Darfur case to the office of Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The prosecutor has brought two cases before the ICC for crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes in Darfur. The most recent case, presented on July 14, sought a warrant to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir for the said crimes.
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