‘Strong Public Pressure’ Needed In Darfur

Two Sudanese men stressed the importance of U.S. involvement, a stronger justice system, and classifying the situation in Darfur as genocide to resolve the conflict in the region during a speech in Emerson Hall last night.

Barodi M. Fashir, a physician of internal medicine, and Salih Mayhoud Osman, a lawyer and human rights activist, addressed and took questions from an audience of about 30.

After quoting both of President Bush’s inaugural addresses in which he promised aid to countries suffering from human rights injustices, Fashir asked that the U.S. keep Bush’s promises.

“We need the U.S. to take leadership in the process of achieving a resolution and to stop this genocide,” said Fashir. He urged audience members to create a “strong public pressure” in light of what he called mounting American opposition to the happenings in Darfur.

Osman said that justice needs to be dealt to those responsible for the conflict in Darfur before a resolution can be reached.

“For the survivors, the issue of justice is very much related to the protection of survivors. They need to disarm the Janjaweed,” Osman said, referring to what Fashir called the government-armed militia.

“What the survivors are asking for is that the people of Darfur can go back to their homes with safety and dignity,” Osman continued.

He stressed that while the government had stopped aerial bombardments, the situation was far from calm, with thousands dying in “concentration camps” each day.

Over 3500 villages in Darfur have been victim to aerial raids followed by the complete destruction of their water and food sources, Fashir said, adding that as of August 2005, over three million people had been affected or displaced to “concentration camps” during the conflict.

Osman said his village has been attacked twice.

“Justice is very much needed in a situation where there’s a conflict,” said Osman.

However, as Osman explained, “access to justice is very difficult because of the absolute impunity and because all of the perpetrators are not held accountable for their crimes. They are just encouraged to go on committing more crimes.”

Osman said the time the international community has spent debating whether or not to class the Darfur situation as a genocide has hindered the resolution of the conflict.

“It is important to remind you that much time was wasted when people were arguing whether it was genocide or not,” he said. “And when we argue, lives are perishing and people are dying.”

Audience members asked Fashir and Osman whether international divestment from Sudan would hurt civilians rather than the government.

But Osman said “divestments will only increase the pressure and accelerate the process of the international communities’ progress” in aiding Sudan.

Event coordinator Rebecca J. Hamilton, a student at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government, added that, unlike in other situations, economic sanctions against the government would probably have little effect on the citizens of Darfur.

“With the government of Sudan, it’s not as though any of the money is used for the help of the people,” said Hamilton. “The only tangible thing it would hurt is the stopping of weapons to supply the militia.”

The event last night was hosted by the Harvard Darfur Action Group, the Genocide Intervention Network, and the Massachusetts Coalition To Save Darfur.