We must look beyond Darfur

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno-Ocampo just filed genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
He accuses him of masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation.
“Genocide is a crime of intention — we don’t need to wait until these 2.5 million (displaced people) die,” Moreno-Ocampo said in an interview with The Associated Press.

I do actually believe that this is a very bad move that endangers Sudan, and therefore the Sudanese people.

I was very impressed reading an article in the May/June 08 issue of Foreign Affairs. Under the title ‘Beyond Darfur’, Andrew S. Natsios writes that continuing Western pressures on Sudan seriously jeopardize the peace agreement signed between Khartoum and the South, and are even counter-productive to reach a goal of a stable and peaceful Sudan.

Andrew S. Natsios is not a leftist activist, nor a agent of a Chinese lobby. Just the former special envoy of the Bush administration for the crisis in Darfur.

It is very important to read again his text as the future of the Sudan has been darkened by this decision of the ICC

I post down here the summary. The full article may be read here.

Summary: While the crisis in Darfur simmers, the larger problem of Sudan’s survival as a state is becoming increasingly urgent. Old tensions between the Arabs of the Nile River valley, who have held power for a century, and marginalized groups on the country’s periphery are turning into a national crisis. Engagement with Khartoum may be the only way to avert another civil war in Sudan, and even that may not be enough.