Sudan Tribune, The Sudan
Sept 9 2005

Chronology of a Failure to Stop Genocide: Bush Administration Policy
on Darfur since September 9, 2004

On this day last year, the White House declared that genocide was
taking place in Darfur, Sudan. This announcement was the result of
political pressure from Congress and citizen pressure from across the
U.S. The legal finding was itself based on overwhelming evidence from
a study of the region completed by the State Department the previous
month. The U.S. remains the only government to acknowledge the crisis
in Darfur as genocide, thereby invoking special responsibilities to
act.

However, since September 9, 2004, the Bush Administration has done
little to stop the violence and provide protection to the people of
Darfur. Despite important opportunities and obligations, and growing
public pressure, the President has failed to take the necessary steps
to ensure an urgent multinational intervention to stop this genocide.
Instead, the Bush Administration’s other interests in Sudan have
inhibited its response to the crisis in Darfur. U.S. diplomatic
engagement in ending the long-running civil war between the northern
government and southern rebels, and the U.S. desire to maintain an
intelligence-sharing relationship with the Sudanese government in
context of the so-called “War on Terror” have both been considered
more important than saving lives in Darfur.

A decade after the U.S. blocked international action on the genocide
in Rwanda, the White House has abdicated its responsibilities to stop
the genocide in Darfur. It has left the African Union (AU) to deal
with this crisis, even while it knows that the AU lacks the capacity
and the mandate to protect the people of Darfur. The death toll in
Darfur now exceeds 400,000 people, more than 2 million people have
been displaced and left homeless, and the genocide continues. It is
clear that U.S. financial support for humanitarian efforts in Darfur,
limited official travel to the region, and occasional remarks about
U.S. engagement have failed to substitute for assertive international
leadership to provide the protection to the people of Darfur
necessary to stop the genocide.

Genocide is a unique crime against humanity and it demands a unique
and urgent response. Once the U.S. recognized that genocide was
occurring in Darfur, it should have immediately acted to provide
protection to the people of Darfur – to stop the killing and rapes,
to restore security to the region, to facilitate the urgent delivery
of humanitarian assistance, and ultimately to support the voluntary
return of displaced people to their land. A multinational
intervention mission, approved by the United Nations (UN) Security
Council under Chapter 7 of its Charter, would provide the mandate and
authorize the force necessary to build on the AU mission and stop
this genocide. Instead, while the U.S. has drafted all UN resolutions
on Darfur in the past year, it has not once sought to achieve such an
intervention to stop this genocide.

The following is a chronology of the failure of the Bush
Administration over the past year to stop the genocide in Darfur:

September 9, 2004: President Bush issues a press statement
acknowledging that genocide is taking place in Darfur. Then-Secretary
of State Colin Powell testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee that genocide has been committed in Darfur, and that the
government of Sudan and its proxy militia bear responsibility, but he
denies logic by stating that “no new action is dictated by this
determination.”

September 18, 2004: The United Nations (UN) Security Council passes a
weak U.S.-sponsored Resolution (1564), which presses the Government
of Sudan to end the violence in Darfur but fails to impose strong
measures to ensure this outcome. Indeed, this follows the expiration
of a deadline set in a previous resolution, by which the government
was supposed to have disarmed the Janjaweed militia. Resolution 1564
also requests that the Secretary-General establish an International
Commission of Inquiry to investigate reports of violations of
international humanitarian law and human rights law in Darfur.

September 21, 2004: President Bush briefly mentions the “terrible
suffering and horrible crimes in Darfur” in remarks to the UN General
Assembly, and reiterates the U.S. finding that genocide is occurring,
but he fails to propose urgent international action to stop the
genocide.

October 1, 2004: President Bush responds to a question on Darfur
during the first Presidential debate by emphasizing that genocide is
occurring but failing to propose action to address the crisis. He
simply states that the AU observer mission in Darfur should be
supported.

October 18, 2004: President Bush commits to supplying two military
transport aircraft to support the small African Union mission in
Darfur.

November 1, 2004: President Bush extends Executive Order 13067, which
was first invoked in 1997, and which maintains sanctions against
Sudan and states that the actions and policies of the Sudanese
government pose an extraordinary threat to U.S. national security.

November 19, 2004: The UN Security Council passes a weak
U.S.-sponsored Resolution (1574), which again demands that the
government, its militia forces and the rebel groups cease violence in
Darfur, and expresses support for AU plans to increase its mission to
3,320 observers.

January 9, 2005: President Bush commends the signing of the
North-South Peace Agreement in Sudan, and urges the government of
Sudan to end atrocities in Darfur and allow the free movement of
humanitarian workers and supplies.

February 1, 2005: In response to the UN Commission of Inquiry report
on Darfur, a State Department spokesperson emphasizes that the U.S.
stands by its conclusion that genocide had been occurring in Darfur,
and states that the continued accumulation of facts on the ground,
and the facts in the UN report itself, support that view, and that
the U.S. continues to hold that position.

March 31, 2005: The U.S. abstains as the UN Security Council adopts a
resolution to refer cases of war crimes in Darfur to the
International Criminal Court (ICC).

April 14-15, 2005: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick
travels to Sudan to meet with senior officials from the genocidal
regime in Khartoum. While in Sudan, Zoellick evades media questions
on the crisis in Darfur and refuses even to use the word “genocide”.

April 20-22, 2005: Maj. Gen. Salah Abdallah Gosh, Head of the
Sudanese intelligence agency, is flown to Washington on a Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) jet to discuss intelligence sharing in the
context of the so-called “War on Terror.” Gosh has been accused by
numerous human rights groups and members of Congress of planning
attacks on civilians in Darfur.

April 25, 2005: Media reports indicate that the White House has
leaned on Congressional allies to strike the Darfur Accountability
Act from the budget supplemental appropriation bill, claiming it
might impede the North-South peace process in Sudan.

May 27, 2005: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and
European Union (EU) agree to send air transport, vehicles, training
and other materials to support the expansion of the AU mission in
Darfur. The U.S. agrees to provide additional financial support for
this mission.

May 31, 2005: Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick again travels
to Sudan, continuing a policy of constructive engagement on the part
of the Bush Administration with the genocidal regime in Khartoum.

June 1, 2005: President Bush breaks months of silence on the crisis
in Darfur by repeating his Administration’s position that genocide is
occurring, but offers only a transport plane to support the AU
mission.

June 9, 2005: NATO agrees to help the AU with airlifts and training
for its mission in Darfur.

June 22, 2005: Deputy Secretary Zoellick’s testimony before the House
Committee on International Relations confirms that the U.S. has an
intelligence-sharing relationship with Sudan, which is impacting the
U.S. response to the crisis in Darfur. Zoellick emphasizes that U.S.
support for the small AU operation is the centerpiece of U.S. policy
on Darfur.

July 7, 2005: NATO begins a three-month airlift of AU observers into
Darfur, and the U.S. commits to supporting NATO’s work in the coming
weeks by transporting about 1,200 Rwandan troops and equipment from
Rwanda to Sudan to participate in the AU observer mission.

July 9: Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick again visits Khartoum to
represent the U.S. at the inauguration of the Government of National
Unity. Zoellick also makes a third, and uneventful, trip to Darfur to
meet with local leaders, NGOs and humanitarian groups and internally
displaced people (IDPs).

July 21: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Sudan to meet
with senior government officials in Khartoum and to visit camps for
displaced people in Darfur. However, a fracas between Sudanese
security officers and Rice’s entourage appeared to generate greater
attention and indignation from U.S. officials and media than did the
ongoing genocide in that country. Rice repeats that the
Administration’s position remains that genocide is occurring in
Darfur.

July 26, 2005: The State Department announces the appointment of
Roger P. Winter as Special Representative of the Deputy Secretary of
State for Sudan, tasked with engaging with the new Government of
National Unity and advising the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on
policy related to Darfur and to Sudan in general.

August 1, 2005: President Bush issues a statement expressing
condolences to the family of Dr. Garang, First Vice President in the
Government of National Unity, who has just died. Secretary of State
Rice emphasizes that the U.S. remains committed to the cause of peace
in all of Sudan, including resolution of the “humanitarian crisis” in
Darfur.

September 8, 2005: For more than two years, a growing number of
communities and organizations across the U.S. have been demanding
leadership from the White House to stop the genocide in Darfur. This
diverse movement now includes a range of religious groups, student
activists, African-American groups, relief agencies, and human rights
organizations of all kinds.

On the one-year anniversary of the Bush Administration’s declaration
of genocide in Darfur, a coalition of these groups and their
supporters gather outside the White House to condemn the failure of
political leadership on the part of the President in ensuring
protection for the people of Darfur, and to urge immediate action to
stop the genocide in Darfur.

This event, called “A Day for Darfur”, is co-sponsored and endorsed
by the following groups: Africa Action, American Jewish World
Service, Armenian National Committee of America, Darfur
Rehabilitation Project, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America,
Faithful America, Greater Washington Jewish Task Force on Darfur,
Human Rights First, NAACP, National Council of Churches, Religious
Action Center of Reform Judaism, Save Darfur Coalition, Sojourners,
STAND, Sudan Peace Advocates Network, TransAfrica Forum, and the
United Methodist Church.

NOTE:

U.S. Humanitarian Assistance for Darfur (2003-present) = $710,000,000
U.S. Spending on Iraq War & Occupation (2003-present)
$192,000,000,000

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress