UN must investigate chemical weapon charges against Sudan

An edited version of this was published in todays i newspaper. See link below:

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/united-nations-must-investigate-chemical-weapon-charges-sudan/

The first genocide this century is underway in Darfur. Despite it being acknowledged as such a decade ago, it continues – unfettered by UN intervention.

An Amnesty International report published today presents overwhelming evidence that the Government of Sudan, emboldened by international indifference, is using chemical weapons on its own civilians. The report, which makes for harrowing reading, documents interviews with 184 survivors. It seems that the Khartoum regime is primarily targeting Fur civilians, living in the Jebel Marra region, not rebel forces. These attacks include the aerial bombardment of villages, ground assaults on civilians and the frequent use of chemical weapons that have killed more than 250 people, perhaps many more.

The Jebel Marra region in Darfur has been under siege by Sudanese government militias since mid-January. Some 34,000 people were displaced in the first 10 days alone. Since the genocide began 13 years ago, 4 million people have been displaced. Forced from their villages into camps, they are now dependent on aid, meagre though it is, for survival.

Amnesty reports that as many as 250,000 people have been displaced in the region with a death toll thought to be many thousands. Rapes and violent attacks are rampant.

That the Sudanese government is now allegedly using chemical weapons should come as no surprise to UN officials. Here’s why.

Firstly, the minutes of a meeting with senior Sudanese officials, including President Bashir, were leaked to renowned US Sudan expert, Eric Reeves, last year. One official was reported as saying, "We shall expel UNAMID from Darfur…We shall make it hell for them”. This would pave the way to forcibly repatriate IDPs [international displaced persons] so that “the job can be finished off”. The document contained an alarming reference to "dirty" chemical weapons. One of the officials allegedly said, “We have started to transport radioactive materials containers to Jabel Um-Ali, with the aim of using them to make bombs and missiles for aerial bombardment and artillery shelling".

But aerial bombardments never stopped (the UN no-fly zones were never actually implemented). They abated for a short time when satellite images captured evidence of bombed villages and mass graves. Aid agencies were expelled so that starvation and mass rape were increasingly deployed as preferred weapons of war. With most of the rebels now deployed to protect territories in the South and the world’s media focused on Syria, Khartoum has once again intensified its genocidal campaign in Darfur.

Secondly, this is not the first time Khartoum has been accused of using chemical weapons against civilians. In 1999 Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) raised concerns when the villages of Lainya and Loka were bombed with chemical weapons. The UN took samples, the results of which were never disclosed. MSF expressed concern at the non-disclosure and the fact that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was not asked to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons. Although the OPCW has the powers, in order to act, it requires an official request from another party state. None was forthcoming.

Having failed to act on the warning flagged in the recent leaked minutes, the UN must not allow Khartoum to evade the OPCW scrutiny that should be triggered now in light of Amnesty’s revelations.

Instead of leading the charge, the British envoy to Sudan, Christopher Trott, was shamefully silent today. Having visited Sudan last week, Trott’s trip notes make no mention of the Darfur genocide. The obsequious language seeks to legitimise what is a known genocidal regime, whose president is wanted in The Hague for crimes against humanity and genocide.

British and UN officials, whose lack of resolve is as reprehensible as it is irrefutable, are being outplayed by the barbaric Bashir, who interprets their silence as tacit approval. There are two decisive actions that the UK could, and should, take in response to Amnesty’s revelations.

Firstly, request an immediate, unfettered investigation by the OPCW, ensuring that the findings are publicly disclosed. Secondly, sustaining a genocidal campaign is expensive. Sudan has accrued a $46 billion debt which it can’t repay, much of which is held by Paris Club creditors, one of whom is the UK. As Foreign minister, Boris Johnson could work with European colleagues to terminate talks of debt relief until attacks on civilians stop, aid is allowed through and threats of repatriation are removed.

Beleaguered Darfuri civilians have been failed by successive British and US leaders. Promises of “never again” long abandoned to political expediency. For every broken promise there are countless broken bodies, And still we bury our heads in the[oil rich] sand.