| |
 |
| |
SPONSORSHIP AD HERE |
|
 |
|
| 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
Kick Sudan out
of the AU
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
The recent order by Sudan for the African Union to pull its
forces out of the Darfur region prompts one to ask: With members
like Sudan who needs the AU?
Let’s bring Darfur up to date. Sudanese of Arab descent are
killing Sudanese of African descent in the western part of Sudan
called the Darfur region. Though the attention of the world was
brought to this genocide some four years ago, little, worthy of
the description as credible or humane, has been done in response
to the atrocities.
As of today, Sudan is refusing to allow in a force of 20,000 UN
peacekeepers to police the Darfur region. So the stalemate
continues. And as the UN waits, the poor people of the Darfur
region are being slaughtered. The number given so far for the
dead alone is fast approaching 400,000.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the UN is frustrated by the
impasse between the UN and Sudan and has said so. He recently
accused the Sudan government of “showing utter disregard for the
peace agreement, signed in May by Khartoum and the main rebel
movement.”
The Sudan government, for its part, prefers to vent its
frustration on the AU and is now asking the organization to pull
its token 7000 force from the Darfur region by the end of
September 2006.
"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.
Al Wasila’s threat was directed at an AU force that has been
severely under-funded, understaffed and been plainly ineffectual
from the word go.
The threat, in itself, is enough to ask why Africa, at this
stage of awareness for a continental government, cannot raise a
unified command of her own to tackle this insouciance from
Sudan. Considering the sums individual countries spend on their
armed forces each year, the absence of an African High Command
must raise doubt about the whole unity resolve.
It is hard to believe that Rwanda happened barely a decade ago.
Yet, the entire tragic episode has been quickly forgotten;
especially by the UN Security Council and the international
community. This must explain why the genocide in Darfur
continues.
There are few voices here and there that continue to raise alarm
about the situation in Darfur. Among these are few, easily
recognizable as people of authority and respect; starting with
President Bush, Secretary General Annan, Colin Powel, George
Clooney and others.
But as much as one would have hoped that these voices were
sufficient to wake the conscience of the world up, the reality
is that has not happened. The atrocities in Sudan continue
unabated.
The BBC quotes Secretary General Annan as saying that "the
government (of Sudan) had renewed aerial bombing and had sent
thousands of troops to the region….” naturally to decimate the
resistance of the Sudanese Africans as the world watches.
Could one escape the conclusion then that the killing is going
on because it is happening to Africans?
Recently, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a South African Nobel
laureate and a man of faith, repeated what he has been saying
for years about Sudan and the genocide in Darfur.
"The harsh truth is that some lives are more important than
others…. if you are of a darker hue you are always going to end
up at the bottom of the pile" he said.
Archbishop Tutu has seen the parallel between what happened in
Rwanda in 1994 and what is happening in Darfur now, and he fears
that the international community, meaning the United Nations,
again, cannot be persuaded to take forceful action; just like it
didn’t when genocide raged on in Rwanda.
That lesson, so far as Darfur is concerned, is buried in
history. In its stead is the complete disdain Sudan has for the
AU, as evidenced by her demands.
Funny as usual, Sudan, a so called member of the AU, has the
audacity to tell the AU how to behave: "The AU force can remain
in Darfur only if it accepts Arab League and Sudanese funding,”
the Foreign Minister of Sudan, Ali Ahmed Kerti, was reported to
have said last week.
In plain English, the Foreign Minister meant that the “AU does
not have the authority to transfer the mission to the UN… and
that if the 53-member bloc is short of funding, then money can
be provided from the Arab League.” There you have it. A thumb
sketch of how the world views Africa; helpless, penniless and
unimaginative.
Left to continue the unimaginative stretch, there was China last
week with enough double talk to muddle the water and to push the
fate of the people of Darfur into an indeterminate state. The
Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, said “he backed the proposed
deployment of the United Nations peacekeepers in strife-torn
Darfur, but warned that Sudanese government consent was vital
first.”
Africans are being murdered in Sudan with the apparent consent
of the Sudanese governmentt
and it is this government's consent that must be sought first?
It seems the Chinese premier has gotten it all
wrong.
The Prime Minister should know that this is
genocide and because it is genocide
against Africans, it is the duty of Africa to do something
about it, regardless of what Sudan thinks.
Sudan is part of Africa, but Africa is not an Arab colony.
That was why the AU
force went to the Darfur region without the
authority of the Arab League. Let someone in Taiwan, not mainland China, remind this
prime minister that in Africa our concern is humanity
first because of lessons learned in Rwanda.
As for accepting money from the Arab League, of course Africa is
known among other things for its penchant for“
the cap in hand
approach” to self government, so we can accept the money. But
for the Arab League to dictate how Africa acts to save its
people, that is another matter.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Washington, DC September 14, 2006
|
|
Archived ::
September 2006
|
Archived ::
August 2006
RECRUITING RETIRED TUTORS
I. K. Gyasi,
Ghanaian Chronicle
|
Archived ::
July 2006
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
SPONSORSHIP AD HERE |
|
|
|
|
|
