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ThisWeekGhana.com becomes the D-O-T
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Commentary Page
We invite commentaries from writers all over. The subject is about
Ghana and the world. We reserve the right to accept or reject
submissions, but we are not necessarily responsible for the opinions
expressed in articles we publish......MORE
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The all African Darfur Force
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
Some of us have been quick to blame the UN Security Council for
being lax on Africa’s security issues. But now that she has
acted in favor of a hybrid force for Darfur, the BBC reports it
is the AU now that is insisting on using an all African force
instead.
The surprising point about the AU decision is that it seems to
fit seamlessly with what Sudan had wanted all along. So we are
now left to ponder how this decision from the AU came about and
for what reason.
The decision was announced by Alpha Oumar Konare, the AU
Commission chairman, after talks with Sudanese President Omar
al-Bashir. According to Konare the AU has “received sufficient
commitments from African countries that we will not have to
resort to non-African forces."
For those who have been following the Darfur tragedy with
sufficient concern, Konare’s decision is like a bolt from the
blue. And Omar Bashir, who has been arguing against UN
intervention in Sudan, appears the winner.
It has been Bashir’s wish to keep the UN out of Sudan. Clearly,
allowing in a UN force that may result in his demise as a
president and eventual trial for crime against humanity is real.
And certainly, he has much to fear of a hybrid force that would
have come with strong US influence in materiel, command and
President George Bush connected to the other end of the line.
The AU has taken on an enormous responsibility with this quest.
But the potential for a foul up is huge with the odds going
against the 20000 force that will be dependent on UN for
support. The only grace is the exercise can be a test for the
continent's resolve.
As early as June last year, Bashir had threatened to kick the
AU’s token force of 7000 men out of Sudan when the organization
had requested the UN to take over control of her force.
"If the AU wants to transfer the mission to the UN, then they
have to pack up their troops and leave by September 30," said
Al-Samani Al-Wasila, Sudan's junior foreign affairs minister
after a meeting with AU officials in Addis Ababa last year.
A year later Bashir has his wish. It is the AU now which is
promoting his option of a non-hybrid force in Sudan while the
conflict in Darfur waits for solution.
Several reasons have been posted for the Darfur conflict, the
latest being lack of resources in the region and it is being
offered by no other than Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia
University's Earth Institute.
He has maintained that “when you are dealing with very hungry
people and desperately poor people, unless you also put forward
a realistic and viable development option, you can't make
peace."
The main issue of genocide which seems to be the obvious case
has been side stepped, even by the UN Security Council herself.
The interesting point is even if you were to infer that the
resource theory is correct, one single fact will still remain
for Darfur; that the struggle against scarcity in Sudan has
broken along racial lines. Sudanese Arabs are slaughtering
Sudanese Africans.
The racial component of the conflict in Sudan naturally invites
a hybrid UN force as a response. That possibility could subdue
the racial aspect of the conflict, should it blow into a full
scale war.
In contrast, the all African force has no such excuse. Its
composition will be African and racial. And, ultimately, if
Africa has to gain the confidence of her people, this force will
have to asset itself in an exercise that can be described as an
incursion into a sovereign territory of Sudan. The chance of
Sudan being truculent in the face of this incursion adds up to
the possibility of a full racial confrontation between an all
African force and Sudanese Arabs.
Thus, the act of an all African force may be fulfilling
emotionally, but it is not very realistic; not unless the
objective is to free Sudan officials from UN wrath.
The AU, it seems, has chosen a hard row with this approach. The
question is, is she desirous and serious about bringing the
Darfur conflict to an end? An all African force? Forget the
achievement of ECOWAS in Liberia. Liberia is a small costal
country with no naval force that years of conflict had already
reduced to impotency.
Sudan is not Liberia. Getting there alone will present a huge
logistical problem. The cost to maintain a 20000 man force there
is said to be about $2 billion a year. It becomes a laughing
matter when you think that the AU has to find this money from
somewhere.
Konare’s announcement is contrary to the position arrived at the
Security Council on July 31 of this year and adopted as UN
Security Council Resolution 1769, which called for a hybrid
force under her command and control. So will the UN fund the all
African force in spite of her decision?
Beyond the funding, there will still be the question whether
this all African force can be effective and be prevailed upon or
not to arrest Sudanese high officials alleged to have committed
crimes against humanity.
Earlier, the AU had an easier choice of a political approach;
simply kicking Sudan out of the AU and prevailing on her backers
at the UN Security Council, China for instance, to abandon her
or face economic and political boycott in Africa. With China so
hungry for resources and contracts from African governments,
this approach would have worked without the AU putting a single
foot soldier on Sudanese soil.
Less we forget, President Bashir’s wish was for an all African
force that would have been funded by the Arab League; a sort of
the fox getting to guard the hen house strategy. After years of
negotiation, Africa has managed to arrive at the same spot Sudan
was some years ago. In the interim, thousands of Sudanese
Africans have died.
Some
see the all African force as one of aspiration; the hope that
Africa would redeem herself via Darfur; with AU in charge of the
command and control structures of the force. Obviously, an all
African force alone does not represent a credible threat against
Sudan. So this campaign may either be a fool’s quest or the
officials in Sudan may have bought their way out of a possible
charge of crime against humanity.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Washington, DC, August 17, 2007
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John Atta-Mills and the spirit of
democracy
Commentary, Jan 5, Ghanadot - Politically, for
long Ghanaians have been in some kind of indistinct
bereavement for genuine democratic practices they sense
they have lost somewhere – what was authentically
Ghanaian traditional value where consensus and
participation drive politics, a sacred Ghanaian stuff. ...More |
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Mills
transitional team holds preparatory meeting
Accra, Jan. 4, Ghanadot/GNA - The Transitional Team, named
by President-Elect Prof. John Atta Mills on Sunday began a
preparatory meeting in Accra to discuss the smooth
transition of power from the outgoing President John Agyekum
Kufuor Administration to the incoming Government...More
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Accra, Jan. 3,Ghanadot/ GNA
– Professor John Evans Atta Mills of National Democratic
Congress (NDC) was at exactly 1109 hours on Saturday
January 3, 2008 declared the President-Elect of the
Republic of Ghana......More
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Mills: I accept the challenge; I'll be president
for all
Accra, Jan. 3, Ghanadot/GNA – The President-Elect, Prof.
John Evans Ata Mills on Saturday said he had accepted the
challenge to be the President and gave the assurance that he
would be the President for all Ghanaians.....More
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