Alex de Waal discusses the current crisis in Sudan and escalations in Darfur, the ramifications for international relations, and avenues for lasting change in the region.
Lack of personal responsibility is why we failed on Darfur, and the continuing lack of accountability is why we are likely to fail again elsewhere
The Security Council must move away from its policy of militarized peacekeeping in favour of doing something that may actually work in alleviating human suffering.
The best way to honour those whom the international community failed in Rwanda twenty years ago is to learn the right lessons and apply them today with greater resolve.
Great power responsibility to protect is actually bolstered when effective enforcement is unilaterally implemented despite divisions among major states.
Questions must be raised about ostensible judicial activism and impropriety; the putative independence of the ICC in relation to the UNSC and, the direct involvement of the ICC in active conflicts especially in African states.
Conflict is not inevitable in South Sudan. All of the issues present in Jonglei can be addressed through enlightened government policies. While still young, the RSS may draw from lessons learned throughout the region.
There is an urge now, on a social as well as political level, to settle the Darfur question lest it eventually goes down the same route as the South. But the question here is whether Darfur can actually be compared at all with the South; is separation even an option for ending the conflict?
Whilst Libya is no doubt important, it is but the tip of the iceberg. In the long run, timely and decisive action such as the international action in Libya will continue to be a recurrent but painful necessity. Yet, we will make most progress towards a world without mass atrocities by reducing the number of cases that become so acute and preventing crises from escalating to the point of imminent catastrophe.
There is an intense sense of Sisyphean angst concerning the challenges facing Southern Sudan. With a reasonably fertile land, a young population, and plentiful resources Southern Sudan has the raw materials to build a successful nation, but only if it receives the support it requires.
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