Washington, DC — United States President George W. Bush on Monday authorized an immediate airlift of equipment and supplies to the international peacekeeping force in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan.
Following a meeting at the White House Monday morning with Salva Kiir, the first vice-president of Sudan and president of Southern Sudan, Bush said that he provided a waiver so the State Department "can begin to move 240 containers' worth of heavy equipment into Darfur." He added that the Defense Department will also fly equipment in from Rwanda.
Bush said the meeting covered both the situation in Darfur and the 2005 peace agreement between the government in the north of the country headed by Omar al-Bashir and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which Kiir now leads.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, who made the airlift announcement shortly before the Oval Office meeting, said that Bush waived congressional notification requirements because "failing to do so would pose a substantial risk to human health and welfare." Hadley cited the immediate need to improve the security situation in west Darfur to allow for aid deliveries.
Hadley also lashed out at critics, singling out New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who have argued that President Bush did not do enough under his watch to end the violence in Darfur. "President Bush has been committed to resolving the crisis there since the United States first labeled it genocide in 2004," Hadley said.
Kristof wrote in a blog entry following the announcement that the airlift "sure smells of a desperate effort to burnish the administration’s legacy on Darfur, but better late than never."
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The United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was established in July 2007, but the peacekeeping force has struggled to secure the region due to a lack of troops and equipment. Bush has reportedly grown impatient with the lack of progress UNAMID has made since being deployed.
Bush said "it's going to be very important for the United States to pay attention to the implementation" of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which he called 'vital'. The White House meeting was arranged to mark the fourth anniversary on January of the signing, which some observers consider one of the Bush administration's major foreign policy accomplishments.
Kiir thanked Bush and his administration "for the commitment they have shown to the people of Sudan to bring peace and continue to monitor that peace." He said he told the president that the people of of southern Sudan "will never forget him for all that he has done for them.
