Jan Pronk Answers: "What Went Wrong, When, Why and Who is Responsible for Darfur?"
The international community is guilty of neglect in failing to address the conflict in Darfur and should unite in using a range tools to address the deteriorating situation, according to Jan Pronk, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in the Sudan.
Pronk shared his perspectives on Darfur before the Fletcher community on March 26 as part of the Charles Francis Adams lecture series. The event was also co-sponsored by The Fletcher School’s Center for International Environment and Resource Policy.
In his talk, Pronk traced the antecedents of the conflict, citing a confluence of socio-economic and political reasons, ecological factors, tribal sentiments and historical precedents that have led to the situation now.
"Darfur is overpopulated and its natural resources are diminishing, and this is a problem since its population consists mostly of agriculturists and camel-raisers who need water for their trade," he said. "Sudan is also the most diversified country in the region in terms of the tribal groupings of its population, and Darfur is the poorest in terms of the distribution of resources. Historically, though, the Darfurians have always wanted to share in the authority over the country, but have always been marginalized."
According to Pronk, the situation deteriorated when the Sudanese government made a political decision in 2003 to confront the local ethnic conflicts utilizing the Janjaweed – Arab militias who acted without concern for human rights. This arrangement led to the large-scale number of killings, rapes and other atrocities committed against the Darfurians, which continue until now.
Pronk said that although the UN was already aware of the local developments in Darfur, the Security Council did not want to intervene for a variety of factors, one of which was that it did not want to prejudice the peace negotiations that were then going on in Khartoum between Sudan’s North and South.
"At that time, we had no concept yet of the duty to protect, but the concept of humanitarian intervention was already being utilized, and yet the international community did not take any action. Because of this, the world is guilty of neglect in failing to take any decision to intervene in stopping the atrocities," he said.
Even after the signing of the peace agreement, Pronk said that violence in Darfur escalated, because both the government and the warring groups violated its terms and the monitoring of the ceasefire by African Union peacekeepers became almost impossible. The local population also started to identify the UN with the United States, thus creating a climate of greater resistance to any effort to intervene. Further, the Secretary General faced a dilemma on how to deal with the situation when a law commission he had convened to study the conflict concluded that it did not amount to genocide—a position that conflicted with that advanced by legal experts from the Arab League.
"Because of these antecedents, the UN became paralyzed in its decision-making over the situation in Darfur," he said.
Pronk explained that he remains "pessimistic" about resolving the conflict, mainly because these antecedent circumstances seem to have paralyzed international decision-making in addressing the issue. However, he stresses that all is not lost and that the international community can still come together and use various tools to deal with the different aspects of the conflict.
First, Pronk said that the International Criminal Court should continue to be assertive and more active in its investigations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and follow through with the prosecution of all those who are primarily responsible for the violence. On February 27, the ICC issued its first two indictments in the Darfur case, charging Ahmad Muhammad Harun, former Minister of State for the Interior of the Government and the current Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, along with Ali Kushayb, a leader of the Militia/Janjaweed, with "51 counts of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes."
Pronk said that a UN-backed no-fly zone should also be immediately established over Darfur to provide security for its people on the ground, as well as for the peacekeepers, from further attacks.
"Bombing has not been sufficient in providing security to the population and to the peacekeeping forces. A no-fly zone can address that problem by preventing area bombardment on the ground by the government of Sudan and the militias, as well as bolster the ability of the African Union peacekeeping troops in performing their mandate by discouraging attacks against them," he said. More importantly, Pronk said that the Sudanese government should take urgent steps to disarm the Janjaweed. "Unless the government withdraws its support for the Janjaweed militia and they are disarmed, we will not see the end of the conflict and atrocities being committed against the people. The problem is that the oil income is being used to finance the militia, giving them a huge source of funding for their activities," he stated.
There should also be more pressure from outside actors, including imposing sanctions, Pronk explained. "It’s always invoked that the Chinese will resist any proposal to impose sanctions on Khartoum, but this has actually not been tested yet."
Finally, Pronk said that the international community should find a comprehensive solution to the situation of the families who have been displaced by the conflict, and expressed his concern that the humanitarian situation in Darfur might be even further eroded by other issues.
"A workable solution on the IDPs should be mapped out now, before their situation is forgotten and the rest of the world experiences donor fatigue," he said.
Pronk said that while part of his mandate then as Special Representative was to make unity an attractive option for Darfurians, he could not preach this, and so the UN had to pursue development efforts "to make them want to unite themselves". However, he closed by saying that as long as the Khartoum government continues to betray its people, it will not be trusted by its population and the country will be unable to find peace.
"We cannot afford to be guilty of negligence again, and must be politically alert in pursuing action. International civil society and the international community should place Darfur high on their government’s political agenda," he said.