U.S. and European media

December 4, 2022

AFP: US lawmakers attack Obama's Sudan policy.  President Barack Obama's administration Thursday defended a new policy of engagement with Sudan in the face of withering attacks from lawmakers who said Washington is placating war criminals.  Scott Gration, the top US envoy for Sudan, appeared before a Congressional panel on Africa to defend a recently announced policy shift, which includes an offer of improved relations with a Sudanese regime that the US government accuses of genocide. The Sudanese leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on multiple counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.  "There is a hole at the center of the strategy," Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur coalition, told AFP.  "It is vital that the administration articulate what are the indicators or benchmarks for progress are, and get international support for them."

Washington Post: Ex-U.N. investigator scolds U.S. on Darfur.  A former top U.N. investigator on Thursday accused the Obama administration of failing to enforce a five-year-old arms embargo in Darfur, Sudan, and said weapons continue to flow into the region. Enrico Carisch, a Swiss national who until October led a U.N. panel investigating violations of the arms embargo, contrasted the administration's efforts with those of President George W. Bush, noting the previous administration's strong advocacy of sanctions against Sudan. "In contrast to that leadership of 2004 and 2005, the United States appears to have now joined the group of influential states who sit by quietly and do nothing to ensure that sanctions work to protect Darfurians," Carisch said in written testimony for an appearance before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa. Carisch said key architects of the U.N. arms embargo -- the United States, France and Britain -- have lessened their commitment to enforcing sanctions as U.S.-led efforts to revive peace talks in Sudan have gained traction. "Increasingly it looks like poorly understood and under-enforced U.N. sanctions are being sold out in favor of mediation whose success is far from ensured," he said.

Reuters: Ethnic violence in south Sudan troubling-US envoy.  The U.S. special envoy to Sudan voiced concern on Thursday about rising ethnic violence in its southern region and said Washington would step up efforts to help curb fighting ahead of nationwide elections next year.  "We are deeply concerned about the increase of inter-ethnic violence in the south and its effects on local populations," special envoy Scott Gration, a retired Air Force general, told a U.S. House of Representatives sub-committee on Africa and global health.  Analysts and U.N. officials say that rising violence and escalating north-south tensions ahead of next year's vote threaten to unravel a fragile 2005 peace deal between Khartoum and the south that ended a two-decade civil war.  International observers have warned that millions of voters could be left out of the April vote because of a failure of authorities to persuade more people to register for the poll.  U.N. officials have said that the people of Sudan's conflict-torn western Darfur region might be left out of the election due to large-scale displacement of much of the population, a dispute over a recent census and poor security.

The following Letter to the Editor by Katherine Jones appeared in The Montgomery Advertiser: Darfur's horrors can't be ignored.  I am greatly concerned by the ongoing violence against women in Darfur and throughout Sudan. I am determined to elevate this issue within my community and for policymakers.  16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign that began Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and runs to Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.  I feel obligated to speak out for survivors of rape, violence and displacement in Darfur and Sudan whose courageous voices often cannot be heard. Please make it known throughout the Montgomery area that we shall not be silent until the violence ceases.  Please educate our citizens about the horrific atrocities that continue to take place every single day in Sudan. Let's raise awareness in our community so that we can make a difference. I will continue my advocacy to end violence against women in Darfur and around the world and urge my friends and family to do the same.

The Darfur Daily News is a service of the Save Darfur Coalition. To subscribe to the Daily News, please email [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact Ashley Roberts at (202) 478-6181, or [email protected].