Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Public concern across Canada and much of the world about the ongoing catastrophe in Darfur appears to continue with good reason. We are here today to show the people of Sudan that Canadians have not forgotten them, just as we did not forget the people of South Africa in the 1980s.

 

As the American academic Eric Reeves notes, presently there are “over 3.2 million ‘conflict-affected persons.’” “The current excess mortality in Darfur exceeds 6,000 human beings per month.” Reeves adds: “without vastly increased international resources, including NATO military personnel, genocide by attrition will continue indefinitely in Darfur. Nothing could burden future operations by the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Commission more onerously than such a legacy.”

 

Just this past week, on September 28^th, 34 Darfuris lost their lives, with many others injured or missing, to violent attacks by the Khartoum-directed militias in the Aro Sharow camp in West Darfur. As many as one quarter of the shelters for 4,000 to 5,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) were burnt down. The AU also reported attacks on other villages on the same day. Also last week, Chad’s President, Idriss Deby, accused the janjaweed of a cross-border attack into eastern Chad to which 36 civilians lost their lives. The janjaweed seem remarkably similar to the dreaded Interhamwe of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Sudanese government forces are now bizarrely using vehicles painted in the AU peacekeeping colours.

 

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week that these attacks are part of a recent wave of violence. This upswing not only increases the likelihood of IDPs fleeing the very camps meant to keep them safe, but prevents the supply of humanitarian assistance to the tens of thousands of Darfuris who are so desperate for it. Baba Gana Kingibe, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission has called on Sudan government forces “to immediately cease any further acts of violations of the ceasefire,” and added that the claim by government of Sudan forces that their ceasefire violations were in retaliation to Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) provocations “cannot be justified given the deliberately calculated and wanton destruction wrecked by the disproportionate use of force on innocent civilians and IDPs in their camps.”

 

Claims that the situation has somehow stabilized and requires only humanitarian aid must stop, for the crisis in Sudan is far from stable. Neither can we remain idle because of fears that strong action will lead to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) will fall apart. The case is precisely the opposite: without a solution to the current crisis, the CPA will never work. As Susan Rice wrote in a Washington Post article this past summer, genocide is not simply a regional or domestic issue. “Genocide makes a claim on the entire world and it should be a call to action.”

 

The International Crisis Group said this summer that it wants NATO and others to offer additional help to the AU in “force preparation, deployment, sustainment, intelligence, command and control, communications and tactical mobility, including the deployment of their own assets and personnel to meet capability gaps as needed.”

 

Although we are all pleased to hear that NATO has promised to extend the airlift of AU troops to Darfur until the end of this month, the alliance must become involved in a more integrated and result-oriented way. Insisting that such an initiative would need the approval of both the AU and the Sudanese government, of course misses the point.

 

To believe that the Sudanese government would ever condone NATO involvement in a capacity more than transporting AU troops is simply naive. The people of Sudan cannot wait for this. Whatever the international or regional political nuances, or organizational mechanics, or any other number of unpersuasive excuses, no one can deny that we all have a responsibility to protect. Isn’t R2P supposed to be Canada’s doctrine.

 

We must all do our part to bring an end to the catastrophe in Sudan; we all have the capacity to make a difference. Abhorrent violations of human rights cannot continue because we chose indifference. If everything we do accomplishes nothing, we are simply silent partners in genocide. Are we really willing to allow another Rwanda or Bosnia to take place while we stand and watch? We must let “Never Again” mean something.

 

Thank you.

 

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