Enough blogs

5 Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

Laura Heaton — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:08:38 +0000

Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.

Sudanese blogger Amir Ahmad Nasr makes a compelling call for a refocus on the late southern Sudanese leader John Garang’s concept of a ‘New Sudan.’ With political dissent on the rise in Sudan, there’s a “real chance for change,” Nasr writes for Al Jazeera. But Sudanese working for sweeping reform would do well to recognize Garang’s reframing of Sudan’s internal conflict:

Rather than talk in terms of either the counter-productive Arab Muslim north versus African Christian south narrative or Darfur's Arab versus African tribes storyline, he took an honourable stance and made an important valid observation. He affirmed Sudan's pluralistic nature and mixed identity, and emphasised the crucial fact that all Sudanese citizens, regardless of their backgrounds, were suffering under a murderous and repressive dictatorship.

Never seen as a fully cohesive organization, the recent election in Congo has highlighted just how many competing interests exist within the Congolese army. The Institute for War and Peace Reporting examined some of the key fissures, particularly in the East, in relation to the roles the various subgroups played in advancing their interests in the flawed election.

Adventure tales set along the Congo River seem to be cropping up with surprising frequency of late. The most recent, narrated by Phil Harwood, appeared as an excerpt in the Guardian this week, complete with a YouTube video. The introduction plays up the stereotypes of such an adventure in a way that people with more than just a vague sense of Congo might find grating, but it certainly does sound like a thrill and is worth checking out.

The ‘responsibility to protect’—as an emerging international norm and a moral imperative—is getting a lot of attention these days, especially as efforts to stem the violence in Syria intensify. In a thoughtful piece for The Atlantic, Shadi Hamid considers the role of the United States as the concept gains traction.

“Drones for human rights”? That’s the concept put forth by Genocide Intervention Network co-founders Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Mark Hanis in an oped in The New York Times. Their proposal—which they don’t wholeheartedly endorse just yet but seem eager to spark a debate about—rides on the responsibility to protect as justification for violating state sovereignty. Sniderman and Hanis use the state-directed violence in Syria as an example, but they just as well could have cited Sudan:

It may be illegal in the Syrian government’s eyes, but supporting Nelson Mandela in South Africa was deemed illegal during the apartheid era. To fly over Syria’s territory may violate official norms of international relations, but governments do this when they support opposition groups with weapons, money or intelligence, as NATO countries did recently in Libya. In any event, violations of Syrian sovereignty would be the direct consequence of the Syrian state’s brutality, not the imperialism of outsiders.

Of course, video footage captured on cell phones and satellite imagery are testing these concepts as we speak, and the fact remains: Political will—not just raw information—is the crucial ingredient determining where and how the international community intervenes.

Sudan Army Targets School in Latest Attack on Civilians

Nenad Marinkovic — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:19:03 +0000

On February 1, Sudan Armed Forces, or SAF, bombed a school in the village of Heiban in South Kordofan on the first day of classes. Eyewitnesses report that eight bombs were dropped and two landed inside the school compound destroying two buildings. No injuries were reported, even though the school was full of students, an outcome the church group that built and supports the school called “a miracle.”

A Christian Evangelical group Samaritan’s Purse has supported the school since it opened in 2007.

With the opening of classes, the school grounds were full of students, teachers, and families. Zachariah Boulus is a teacher at the school and was on campus when the bombing took place. Zachariah said when the planes first began circling, he was not expecting the school would be bombed, but when the first bomb dropped, people ran or lay down.

“I don't even know where my wife and children are because they ran for safety near the mountain,” he said.

Remnants of the Bible school in Heiban, South Kordofan after the SAF bombings on February 1. (Photos: Saied Mohammed)

In a letter to Ambassador Rice yesterday, a coalition of human rights groups, including the Enough Project, American Jewish World Service, United to End Genocide, Jewish World Watch, Investors Against Genocide, Stop Genocide Now, and Act For Sudan, called on the U.S. to continue diplomatic efforts to open access to humanitarian agencies while considering options for delivering aid to the region without Khartoum’s permission.

“The humanitarian situation on the ground has deteriorated to such an extent that the imperative to save lives now outweighs these logistical and political concerns,” the group said, adding that special consideration must be made to address the possibility that circumventing Khartoum’s approval for the humanitarian operations could further impact access in Darfur.

The ongoing military camping by SAF in South Kordofan, which began in June, and the total shutdown of humanitarian corridors are threatening to deepen the humanitarian crisis. A full-scale famine may force up to 500,000 people to flee to South Sudan, according to the World Food Programme.

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice and the White House issued statements condemning the latest attacks by the SAF in South Kordofan and Blue Nile on civilian targets, as well as Sudan’s denial of humanitarian access to the two areas.

“I am outraged,” Rice said. She added that even though no casualties were reported, this attack “underscores the viciousness of Sudan’s ongoing military campaign in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.”

The White House statement conveyed deep concern about the ongoing fighting and lack of humanitarian access in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states and urged the Sudanese government “to grant immediate and unconditional humanitarian access to civilian populations in need in these areas.”

While the statement is a welcome note of acknowledgement of the severity of the situation and the likelihood that humanitarian conditions will worsen, the increasingly brazen attacks by the Sudanese government on obviously non-combatant targets offers little consolation that Khartoum will welcome aid any time soon.

“The events of February 2 demonstrate how the Enough Project works effectively with our partners, fusing field reporting on humanitarian crises, together with policy analysis in influential news media, such as USA Today, and leadership in human rights advocacy,” said Enough Project Executive Director John Bradshaw. “The strong statement from the White House on the emergent situation in Sudan and South Sudan is very much in line with Enough’s analysis. Now the U.S. should take a leadership role, acting in concert with the larger international community, and without or without the permission of the Khartoum regime, to deliver food and medical aid to civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.”

U.N. Humanitarian Chief in Jonglei, South Sudan: 'It’s a Terrible Situation'

Nenad Marinkovic — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:42:47 +0000

Sudan Valerie Amos in Jonglei AP resized.jpg

JUBA, South Sudan -- The U.N.’s top humanitarian official, Valerie Amos, visited some scenes of the recent bloodshed in South Sudan yesterday and expressed concern about what she said is a deepening humanitarian crisis. Amos’ four-day visit to South Sudan comes on the heels of inter-tribal clashes in Jonglei state where about 140,000 people have been affected by the fighting.

Amos visited Pibor town in Jonglei state, the epicenter of recent violence between the Lou Nuer and Murle tribes.

“It’s a terrible situation, and I was able to see people who have lost their loved ones, their possessions and livelihoods,” she said at the press conference in Juba. Amos warned that the humanitarian crisis South Sudan faces is much broader than initially estimated when also factoring in the refugees from the southern states of Sudan, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

“I’d like to emphasize my concern about the situation in South Sudan broadly,” she said. “The situation is very precarious, and the risk of a dangerous decline is very real. The scope of this crisis cannot be ignored.”

Humanitarian agencies are pre-positioning emergency supplies in Jonglei and have very limited time to assist those affected by the crisis before the rainy season begins in March or April. Access to the affected population is under most circumstances limited due to lack of infrastructure, especially paved roads. The dirt roads that exist will become muddy and impassable because of the rains, posing an even bigger challenge to aid agencies.

“Pre-positioning of supplies is the key,” Amos said.

OCHA estimates that 80,000 refugees from South Kordofan and Blue Nile are now in South Sudan and reports there is urgent need for increased food assistance and emergency relief. In addition, the World Food Programme, or WFP, warns that up to 500,000 refugees may ultimately flee to South Sudan due to growing famine in the southern states of Sudan.

“We have requested access to South Kordofan and Blue Nile from the Sudanese government,” Amos said. But such access is still not forthcoming.

The U.N. has made an appeal for $760 million from the international community to meet humanitarian needs in South Sudan for 2012. Amos warned that the crisis could be even wider and additional appeals would have to be made.

“I think that amount may increase as a result of some other actions that may happen, not only the oil shutdown but also if there’s a large movement from Sudan to South Sudan,” Amos said.

“We can only do so much,” she said, adding that the leadership of the South Sudan government is vital in humanitarian efforts. Amos is scheduled to meet with President Salva Kiir and other senior officials tomorrow, the last day of her visit.

At Thursday’s press conference, Amos sounded an alarm about recent moves by the South Sudanese government to shut down oil production. She warned that the decision would negatively affect many people in need, as the government’s loss of revenue hinders its ability to provide services. Oil accounts for about 98 percent of South Sudan’s budget.

“Humanitarian needs will inevitably increase, and the combined efforts of the government, the aid community, and the donors will not be enough,” Amos warned.

Photo: U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator for South Sudan, Valerie Amos, engages with local government officials in the village of Walgak (AP)

South Sudan President Calls for Comprehensive Approach to Outstanding North-South Issues

Jenn Christian — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:32:24 +0000

Salva Kiir with hat AP resized.jpg

On Thursday, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir issued a press statement outlining the reasons why the government of the Republic of South Sudan, or RSS, recently rejected a deal ostensibly designed to avoid the complete shutdown of oil production in South Sudan. Kiir further stressed that lasting peace between Sudan and South Sudan will not be found in an agreement concerning oil alone, but, rather, must be built atop resolutions to outstanding issues related to the disputed Abyei area and the North-South border, in addition to the economic and oil concerns that have recently stalled negotiations between Sudan and the RSS.

Negotiations between Khartoum and Juba on oil-related issues crumbled last week in Addis Ababa, with the RSS declining to sign a temporary agreement proposed by the negotiation’s facilitators, the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, or AUHIP. The AUHIP tabled the agreement following Juba’s initiation of a complete shutdown of oil production in South Sudan, a response to Khartoum’s earlier seizure of southern oil.

In his remarks, Kiir explains that the RSS’s failed to sign the AUHIP’s agreement because the text would have required South Sudan to continue to use infrastructure in Sudan to export oil from certain blocks in the South. For Kiir and the RSS, such a commitment would explicitly limit South Sudan’s options to manage its national resources and economic interests.

In a strong statement against the international community’s emphasis on inter-state institutions and mechanisms to manage South Sudan’s oil reserves and exports, Kiir went onto say:

We reject the assumption that mutual dependency of our two nations is the path to peace. It is not. Dependency only brought us continued confrontation and human suffering. This cycle must be broke.

Despite this strong rhetoric, Kiir committed the RSS to future negotiations under the facilitation of the AUHIP. In doing so, he stressed that Juba would only consider signing a comprehensive agreement, inclusive of oil- and economic-related issues, as well as those issues related to the disputed Abyei area and the North-South border. At the same time, Kiir noted that South Sudan, for now, would “be wise to pursue efforts to enhance [its] economic self sufficiency, prosperity, and national security,” should Juba find no “common ground with Khartoum.”

Kiir’s latter comments are, no doubt, a reference to Juba’s recent decision to shut down oil production in South Sudan, thereby denying Khartoum, at least in the short term, the opportunity to benefit economically from seized southern oil or a negotiated transit fee for Juba’s use of pipelines traversing Sudan. In recent days, Juba has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Kenya regarding the construction of a pipeline from South Sudan to Lamu, on the Kenyan coast. If ever completed, such a pipeline would provide South Sudan an alternative to Port Sudan for the export of its oil, but optimistic estimates suggest the project could take three years and several billion dollars to complete.

Observers expect negotiations between Khartoum and Juba to resume again this month. When they do, the AUHIP would do well to heed Kiir’s emphasis on a comprehensive approach to the negotiation process, a policy approach Enough has long advocated. Moving forward, the AUHIP, with the diplomatic support of the international community, should not allow oil related issues to be negotiated in isolation of Abyei and the North-South border. A sustainable peace between Sudan and South Sudan, a peace Kiir described as far greater in value than the crude that divides the two countries, will only be founded on an agreement that resolves outstanding issues related to financial transitional arrangements, inclusive of oil, the Abyei area, and the North-South border, the implementation of which the international community must commit to undertake.

Photo: South Sudan President Salva Kiir (AP)

GOP Frontrunner Romney Breaks Silence on U.S.-Sudan Policy Plans

Annie Callaway — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:39:37 +0000

Mitt Romney AP.jpg

With primary season well underway, a hardened pack of Republican presidential hopefuls has been in the spotlight for months debating everything from health care reform to moon colonies. Despite the wide range of topics bouncing around the various discussion forums, the acute humanitarian crises in Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan is something the candidates have not felt compelled to comment on. However, Mitt Romney, the current frontrunners, has recently taken the initiative to respond to a questionnaire sent out to all the candidates by the advocacy group Act for Sudan at the beginning of December. This letter aimed to gain insight on what each candidate has in mind regarding the future U.S.-Sudan policy agenda, should they be elected.

The response from Romney is greatly appreciated by those who would like to see these issues moved up to the front burner of the primary debates. In his statement, Romney “recognizes that for too long far too many Sudanese have been victims of war crimes and other atrocities committed by the government in Khartoum and its proxies.” He goes on to acknowledge, “Since independence of the Republic of South Sudan, Khartoum has committed a range of atrocities in border regions that have claimed countless lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.”

As far as plans for what he would do as president, Romney insists that he is committed to “protecting innocents from war crimes and other atrocities, ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches those desperately in need, holding accountable those leaders who perpetrate atrocities, and achieving a sustainable peace for all who live in Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan.”

While the statement fails to address the issues from a substantive or critical angle, it is encouraging to hear at least one candidate speak out about a crucial foreign policy issue in Africa, one where the humanitarian imperative is so great. Romney should be applauded for broaching this subject publicly, and will, without a doubt, be urged by groups like Enough and Act for Sudan to continue advancing in this positive direction.

The precarious situation unfolding between these two African nations is something that will undoubtedly be cause for concern for the U.S. in the coming years, regardless of who is elected in November. By explicitly addressing the inquiries made by Act for Sudan, Romney has not only lifted the shroud of silence surrounding this topic in the GOP debates, but he has set the precedent for other candidates to do the same. Romney’s message is also a testament to the growing influence of the Act for Sudan coalition, which will hopefully compel all presidential contenders between now and November to address the situation in Sudan and South Sudan as an important foreign objective. With luck, Gingrich and others will soon follow suit, sparking debate and eventually resulting in Sudan- and South Sudan-related issues becoming more salient in the current American political discourse.

Photo: Mitt Romney (AP)

Enough Report: Ensuring Success in Ending the War with the LRA

Edward Ford — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:56:59 +0000

Congo former LRA child soldier reunited with family in N Uganda CARITAS.jpg

The Lord’s Resistance Army war has now gone on for 25 years, leaving over 60,000 children and youth abducted and tens of thousands of people killed. A quarter of a century later, there is a serious chance to end this scourge of humanity. The contribution of U.S. military advisors to the LRA battlefield needs to now spur the needed additional steps to make the resolution of the conflict a reality: more and better African troops and equipment on the ground, an agreement to deploy forces in all LRA-affected areas, and a more effective defection strategy.

The Enough Project’s latest report, “Ensuring Success: Four Steps Beyond U.S. troops to End the War with the LRA,” outlines a comprehensive strategy for helping U.S. and African Union, or A.U., forces end the LRA and bring reconciliation to affected communities. Based on interviews in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Washington, D.C., in December and January, this military and civilian focused approach is comprised of four specific strategies known collectively as TTID: increased special forces troop contributions, robust transportation options, enhanced intelligence capabilities, and renewed commitment to promoting the defections of LRA commanders and rank-and-file fighters.

Military operations to apprehend the LRA senior leadership and protect civilians should be bolstered with more capable troops from the regional armies or another African country, greater intelligence and transport capabilities including helicopters, and an agreement between the countries in the region to allow the regional troops to deploy in all LRA-affected areas including the Democratic Republic of Congo. On the civilian side, a two-tiered defection strategy should include an initiative targeted at senior commanders and a substantial aid package to increase radio programming and sensitize communities to accept ex-combatants peacefully.

Enough Policy Consultant and report author Sasha Lezhnev warns that the recent decrease in attacks by the LRA should not be interpreted as the immediate success of the U.S. advisors or suggest that the mission is no longer needed. History has shown that a decrease in activity by the LRA is its predictable response in the face of a military campaign. Lezhnev writes:

The LRA has decreased its attacks by two-thirds over the past six months in an effort to reorganize and lie low. But this is not a sign of LRA weakness. It is part of the group’s historical pattern of waiting out military incursions and then launching attacks. The LRA are among the best survivors on the planet—and they could simply be playing a waiting game for the departure of the U.S. soldiers.

Accordingly, a prolonged commitment to the area is of utmost importance.

The A.U. and supportive countries should take full advantage of the United States’ recent commitment to the cause. By providing U.S. military advisors and local military forces with the resources they need, coupled with an effective defection policy, ending the LRA’s 25 year reign of terror in central Africa is a realistic, timely, and ultimately achievable goal.

Read the full report “Ensuring Success: Four Steps Beyond U.S. troops to End the War with the LRA”

Photo: A former child soldier is reunited with his family in northern Uganda after defecting from the Lord's Resistance Army (Caritas)

CNN, Al Jazeera Broadcasts Feature Enough Project Sudan Team

Laura Heaton — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:23:39 +0000

Curious to see and hear the analysts working on Enough’s policy on South Sudan and Sudan? CNN and Al Jazeera recently featured Jenn Christian and Amanda Hsiao, two of Enough’s Sudan researchers, in prominent news broadcasts.

Amid reports of deadly attacks tied to cattle rustling in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, CNN host Jim Clancy called on D.C.-based analyst Jenn Christian for an assessment of what could be done to mitigate the current violence and address the root causes, to prevent these deep-seated tensions from erupting again.

Watch the clip from the CNN International’s January 10 broadcast:

As talks between Sudan and South Sudan over oil deteriorated last week, Juba-based researcher Amanda Hsiao explained the rationale, as put forth by South Sudan leaders, for why they shut down oil production. Hsiao spoke with Al Jazeera’s Anna Cavell after returning to the southern capital from Addis Ababa, where she observed the oil talks.

Watch Hsiao on Al Jazeera English this week:

Intel: SEC Process ‘Helpful,’ Need ‘Fair and Timely’ Rules for Addressing Conflict Minerals

Annette LaRocco — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:30:01 +0000

Congo tantulum mine Sasha.jpg

In a newly released industry white paper the Intel Corporation praised the Securities and Exchange Commission’s, or SEC, process for instituting rules concerning conflict minerals mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In section 1502, the conflict minerals provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, Congress empowered the SEC to draft regulations requiring, among other things, companies to disclose whether they use conflict minerals from the Congo in their products.

Intel touts their engagement on conflict minerals issues, which pre-dates the legislative action taken by Dodd-Frank. With their strong support of the upcoming regulations Intel is proving to be an industry leader on conflict minerals. The company notes:

[W]e support fair and timely rules and we believe that the SEC regulatory process has been helpful in bringing others to the table and maintaining broad momentum on this important issue. As the rulemaking process moves forward, we will continue to focus our energy and efforts as we always have – on implementing the systems and processes that will enable us to achieve a “conflict-free” supply chain.

Intel has committed itself to finding ways to source conflict-free minerals from the eastern Congo. The statement also highlighted Intel’s support and involvement in the Public Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade, or PPA. The PPA is a joint initiative launched last November by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, a coalition of private sector partners, and civil society and aims to decouple the trade in minerals from ongoing violence and human rights abuses in Congo. The PPA hopes to leverage a responsible minerals trade through financial and technical incentives and resources.

Importantly, Intel’s statements illustrate how conscientious corporations can be part of the solution to the problem of conflict minerals, rather than barricades standing in the way of progress. Intel’s work regarding conflict minerals has been proactive; the company has not shied away from addressing human rights concerns with their supply chains, stating, “We have approached this issue like we would address other significant business challenges at Intel.”

Intel joins a broad coalition coming out in support of strong and timely SEC regulations of conflict minerals, which includes a group of U.S. senators, Congolese civil society and human rights groups, NGOs, and even the coordinator of the U.N. Group of Experts, Fred Robarts.

Intel goes on to say, “This issue is too important to wait.” The SEC must release strong conflict minerals regulations, free of any phase-ins, delays, or loopholes.

Intel’s statement of support is proof that industry can be a responsible partner in conflict-free sourcing, and the SEC should not weaken regulations because of intransigence of some corporations. Amnesty International recently released a petition to that effect, urging the SEC to issue strong rules regarding the conflict minerals provision of Dodd Frank, which can be signed here.

Photo: A tantalum mine in eastern Congo (Enough / Sasha Lezhnev)

USA Today Oped: Sudan and Congo Savaged as World Shrugs

John Prendergast — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:21:19 +0000

Congo child soldier AP.jpg

This oped co-authored with Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Peace Corps volunteer in Congo, originally appeared in USA Today.

2011 was a year of unprecedented action on behalf of freedom and human rights. When citizens flooded streets throughout the Middle East and North Africa, the U.S. and other countries dropped their long-standing presidential allies and demanded new leadership. When massive human rights abuses loomed in Libya and Ivory Coast, the international community acted decisively. That backdrop makes it all the more puzzling why the two countries where human rights abuses are worst in the world—Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo—have received such comparatively tepid international responses.

In the past quarter-century, Sudan and Congo have collectively sustained roughly 7.75 million war-related deaths and unrivaled additional human suffering from the use of rape as a war weapon, the recruitment of child soldiers, mass displacement and chronic poverty.

By contrast, fewer than 1,000 people died in Egypt in 2011 in a year where the violent suppression of protests nonetheless sparked a revolution—and a global outrage—that brought down a longstanding autocrat. In Libya, no more than a few thousand people had died from the violence when President Obama and other NATO leaders and the Arab League admirably chose to support the resistance and protect beleaguered populations. Even after a year of war, perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 died in all—tragic figures, to be sure, but the sort of thing that routinely happens in a month or two in Congo or Sudan. In Yemen and Syria, where many eyes are focused these days, the 2011 tolls were perhaps 1,000 and 5,000 respectively. Yet we quite properly and actively debate how to urgently bring the killing to an end as soon as possible.

Time for 'basic decency'

At a time when the U.S. involvement in Iraq's war has ended and the Afghanistan mission is beginning to decline in scale, 2012 offers the world a chance to amend its past failings and show the people of Sudan and Congo the kind of basic decency that motivated intervention in Libya.

Policymakers pin their hopes on the separation of South Sudan from the main part of the country in 2011 and recent elections in Congo as signs of progress. But this is pure hopefulness, not policy. The two Sudans are in active dispute over several regions along their new border, where the Abyei area was ethnically cleansed by the Khartoum regime. And now, internally, the Sudan government aims to do the same to the non-Arab populations in South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions. In Congo, the December election was quite possibly stolen by President Joseph Kabila's cronies, and fighting continues in the east over the illegal extraction of one of the richest non-petroleum natural resource bases in the world.

Click to continue reading on USA Today.

Photo: A child soldier in Congo (AP)

U.N. Chief for Darfur Attends Celebration Hosted by Top Janjaweed Leader

Enough Team — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:17:15 +0000

Eric Reeves profile.jpg

In March 2004 the U.N.'s IRIN news service reported on the events of the previous month near Tawila in North Darfur. It was a brutal episode, but there would be many hundreds more such:

In an attack on 27 February 2004 in the Tawilah area of northern Darfur, 30 villages were burned to the ground, over 200 people killed and over 200 girls and women raped—some by up to 14 assailants and in front of their fathers who were later killed. A further 150 women and 200 children were abducted.

Eight years later, events of a rather different sort were transpiring. The man who had been presiding over the slaughter of civilians in the Tawila area, Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, was now presiding over the wedding of his daughter to the Chadian President Idriss Déby (January 20, 2012). There were a number of ironies in this wedding, including the fact that Déby is a member of the non-Arab Zaghawa tribe, the same ethnic group that has been slaughtered in horrific fashion in places such as Tawila and elsewhere in Darfur.

But more than ironic, indeed deeply perverse, was the presence at this wedding party of the U.N./African Union Special Representative to the peacekeeping force in Darfur known as UNAMID: Nigeria's Ibrahim Gambari. Newswire photographs have appeared that show Gambari in attendance, indeed chatting it up with the leader of the Khartoum regime, President Omar al-Bashir. Bashir's presence was both predictable and in its grim way appropriate: It was his regime that had released Hilal from prison (he was serving time for serious felony convictions) and put him to work creating militias from his Um Jalal and other Arab tribal groups in North Darfur. The Khartoum regime provided him with weapons, logistics, intelligence, and most important, protection. His instructions were clear: destroy the non-Arab people of Darfur. The Janjaweed, now often recycled into other paramilitary or "police" forces, have continued their brutal predations, if now on a lesser scale; they also continue to enjoy complete impunity, total protection from international justice efforts.

So we know why Bashir was at the wedding. But why was Gambari there, photographed in animated conversation with Bashir? Why would he attend the wedding festivities for the daughter of a man linked in all credible human rights reporting on North Darfur with the very worst atrocity crimes—in fact, responsible for directing these crimes?

Perhaps it's appropriate to ask first how this question will be answered by Darfuris: already deeply mistrustful of UNAMID and Gambari in particular, they will see him now as colluding fully with the Khartoum regime. These photographs have rapidly spread on the Internet and we can be sure that a great many Darfuris, both in the diaspora and within the region itself, have seen them. They already see Gambari as responsible for the intolerable levels of insecurity that define displaced persons camps and most rural areas. And they already see him as the man who self-servingly insists that violence is down dramatically, even as more than a million Darfuris have been newly displaced since UNAMID took up its mandate on January 1, 2008. Some 400,000 have been displaced on Gambari's watch alone (he took office on January 1, 2010), including approximately 100,000 this past year.

Gambari clearly sees it as his main task to downplay the failure of UNAMID to protect Darfuris, to help obscure the deepening humanitarian crisis deriving from security restrictions imposed by Khartoum on international relief organizations, including those of the United Nations. And there are other silences. Gambari never mentions, for example, the continuing avalanche of rape throughout Darfur, even as Radio Dabanga provides almost daily accounts of one soul-destroying attack after another. Khartoum refuses even to acknowledge that rape has been an issue in Darfur, and Gambari is all too willing to accommodate the regime's sensibilities.

So what was the response of the U.N. to Gambari's morally grotesque decision to attend the wedding of Musa Hilal's daughter? Dogged reporting by Inner City Press finally compelled this response:

The Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) advises the following: JSR Gambari attended the wedding [of Musa Hilal's daughter] at the invitation of President Deby of Chad, who is an important regional partner in the peace process. JSR Gambari had no control over the guest list and it is contrary to basic diplomatic courtesy and African traditions to ignore greeting other invited guests.

But this disingenuous response ignores the fact Gambari certainly knew that Musa Hilal would be present at his own daughter's wedding: does the U.N. really believe that "basic diplomatic courtesy" or "African traditions" require that the chief representative of the protection force in Darfur be present at a social occasion hosted by the most notorious of Janjaweed leaders? A man who is subject to a U.N. travel ban and described by Human Rights Watch as "the poster child for Janjaweed atrocities in Darfur"?

This is not an explanation; this is the U.N. protecting its own, even one of its most incompetent.

UNAMID is all too representative of the U.N.'s failure, of many years, to provide anything approaching adequate protection for Sudanese civilians, despite extraordinary expenditures and bloated (if ill-conceived) budgets. The lack of leadership is a main reason, and Gambari's profoundly ill-considered decision to attend the wedding of Musa Hilal's daughter is emblematic of this larger failure.

Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College and has published extensively on Sudan, nationally and internationally, for more than a decade.