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Save Darfur Coalition (Washington, DC)

Sudan: U.S. Presidential Candidates Answer Questions on Darfur

Enough Action Fund, the Save Darfur Coalition and the Genocide Intervention Network

30 September 2008

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(Page 2 of 6)

Obama: “The Court has pursued charges only in cases of the most serious and systemic crimes and it is in America’s interests that these most heinous of criminals, like the perpetrators of the genocide in Darfur and the warlords in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are held accountable. These actions are a credit to the cause of justice and deserve full American support and cooperation. Yet the Court is still young, many questions remain unanswered about the ultimate scope of its activities, and it is premature to commit the U.S. to any course of action at this time.”

On counter-terrorism cooperation between the U.S. and the Government of Sudan

McCain: “We cannot prevail in the transcendent struggle against radical Islamic extremism by sacrificing our ideals. That’s why I have consistently opposed the inhuman treatment of—much less the use of torture on—terrorist suspects who have been captured and believe that we need to close the detainment facility at Guantanamo. Whatever limited intelligence sharing or other cooperation we have received from the Sudanese government cannot be allowed to sway the position we must take with respect to that regime’s responsibility for genocide and other crimes against humanity.”

Obama: “Sudan’s partnership with the CIA may have provided some useful information in the United States’ counter-terrorism’s efforts. However, we cannot subordinate our commitment to the protection of human rights or the promotion of lasting peace in Sudan. My administration will not let intelligence cooperation push the issue of genocide into the background.”

1. Will you make ending the genocide in Darfur a priority from the first day that you take office?

McCain: As not only a challenge to our moral sensibilities, but also a potential threat to our strategic interests through its destabilization of a vast swathe across the African continent, the crisis in Darfur calls out for American leadership. While the United States Congress and the Bush administration have been in the forefront of denouncing the genocide for what it is and providing assistance to the victims, we need to act more dynamically to end the slaughter and secure a just and sustainable resolution to the conflict. From the very start my administration will work in close coordination with all responsible members of the international community, leveraging all elements of American power and influence, to help bring the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur to an end. If the genocide in Rwanda and the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia taught us anything it is that we cannot afford to stand by and watch as innocents get slaughtered.

This is why, nearly two years ago Senator Bob Dole and I, both of us advocates of military action in Bosnia in the 1990s, proposed that the UN Security Council’s demand that the regime in Khartoum end its offensive military flights and bombing raids in Darfur be backed by a no-fly zone over the region, enforced, if necessary, by NATO. As president, I would seek a Security Council resolution endorsing such a mission and work to persuade our allies to join us in its implementation. The recent bombing of civilian targets in Darfur—including a school, water works, and a market—underscore the urgent need for such action.

Obama: Yes. As president, I will make ending the genocide in Darfur a priority from Day One. It is a collective stain on our national and human conscience that the genocide in Sudan, now starting its sixth year, has gone on for far too long.

I have been one of the leading voices for ending the genocide in Darfur. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, I have met with Sudanese officials and visited refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border to raise international awareness of the ongoing humanitarian disaster there. I also co-sponsored the Sudan Divestment Authorization Act of 2007 to make it easier for states to divest from foreign companies that help fund the genocide in Darfur. In addition, I was a cosponsor of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, and I have cosponsored resolutions calling on the President to work with international partners to enforce a no-fly zone in Darfur. While the U.S. has provided aid and military resources to the African Union mission in Darfur, I believe this is America’s moment to lead the way toward ending this crisis.

2. The UN Security Council authorized an African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) of 26,000 troops. Currently, the implementation of this mandate continues to be obstructed by the Government of Sudan, underfunded and underequipped by the international community, and subsequently, slow to deploy. If you were President today, what could the U.S. do to ensure the force immediately deploys and is equipped to effectively protect civilians in Darfur?

McCain: The United States has generously funded UNAMID, spending over $100 million to assist with training and equipment to African nations willing to contribute to the mission in addition to the approximately one-quarter of the bill which we pay through UN assessments for peacekeeping. While we can and, in a McCain administration, will do more to aid in the stand-up of a force capable of protecting the people of Darfur, the international community needs recognize that the major reason why UNAMID is presently barely at one-third of the strength authorized by the UN Security Council is that the force has been hamstrung by the obstacles which the Sudanese government has been allowed to place in its way, including the requirement that the force be composed primarily of Africans when it knows well enough that the capacity of Africa militaries is not up to the task. The responsibility to protect civilians is one that arises out of our common humanity and no government complicit in the underlying atrocities, should be allowed to set the terms whereby the international community acts to defend the most vulnerable, especially when those conditions are poorly disguised obstructions to delay the alleviation of the plight of those displaced by the violence. This is nothing short of genocide in slow motion.

In addition, UNAMID needs to have the equipment necessary in order to carry out its mission.

My administration will work closely with allies to assure that those sent to protect the innocent and assure the flow of assistance have the materiel—including airlift and aerial patrol capability—they need to robustly implement their mandate.

Obama: Khartoum’s refusal to accept non-African forces and its delay and obstruction of the deployment of UNAMID is unacceptable. The United States and the broader international community should impose stiff penalties for this obstruction.

My administration will work with Congress and our allies in Europe and elsewhere to impose effective sanctions on the Government of Sudan so long as Sudan continues to obstruct UNAMID and attack civilians. As a further measure to protect civilians in Darfur, my administration will work with NATO to develop a plan for enforcing the U.N. ban on offensive military flights by the Government of Sudan in Darfur while ensuring the continued effective provision by non-governmental organizations of humanitarian supplies to Darfur. As president, I will also work to reduce Chinese support for the Khartoum regime. The U.S. will ensure that the international community effectively monitors the U.N. arms embargo in Darfur. My administration will work to ensure that UNAMID has the necessary training and equipment—especially helicopter support—to ensure the full mobility and effectiveness of UNAMID troops. We will also assist countries in Africa that have pledged peacekeeping troops to enhance their readiness to deploy effectively in UNAMID.

3. In Sudan, the peace process in Darfur and the peace agreement in the South are at risk of disintegration. The Darfur peace process is stuck in limbo. The rebels are divided, civil society is not part of the process, and both the rebels and Khartoum continue to carry out attacks on civilians. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, produced in 2005 largely due to the efforts of President Bush’s Administration to mobilize the leadership and diplomacy necessary, between the North and the South of Sudan is at serious risk. How, specifically, would your administration support a peace process and the implementation of lasting peace for all-Sudan?

McCain: While a peace process is important, peace—just and sustainable—should not be held hostage to process. The objective is to assure not only the human security of the peoples of Darfur and South Sudan, but also their inalienable right to self-determination. The international community acknowledged this when the UN Security Council endorsed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) to end a conflict that had exacted a toll no less horrific than the Darfur genocide.

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