Nicolas Henin, a reporter’s blog

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.

In Congo, governement negociators and rebel groups just reached an agreement to end fightings in the east – an undercovered sequel of the 1994 Rwandan genocide in this region rich with natural resources.
This deal is announced as a survey, published by the aid group International Rescue Committee (IRC) and carried out with the Australian Burnet Institute, reveals that this conflict claimed 45,000 lives every month. By killing in total 5.4 millions Congolese since 1998, it appeared to be a more lethal war than any other since World War Two.

And even if the fightings stop, life is still alarmingly precarious in Congo, with only 15$ per capita available every year for health care (compared to 6.000 $ in the US).

On the same continent, Darfur is still attracting pop stars. Just a couple of days after being appointed «messenger of peace» for the UN, George Clooney travelled to Chad to campaign against Sudan and the Janjaweed militiamen.

According to international experts, 200,000 have died because of the conflict in Darfur and 2.5 millions have been driven out from their home.
Of course, this is a tragedy and these are figures that the world can not accept. No excuses for those who kill in Darfur. But the war in Darfur has becomed a cause for lobbies in the West and is discussed in every political campaign, in the US as well as in Europe.

What about Congo ? Until this last survey, very few media outlets talked about the consequences of this war.

On the one hand, a conflict opposing an islamic regime and «moderate muslims». On the other hand, the aftermaths of a conflict partly ignited by the Western imperial policy.
Hollywood pays no attention and the press follows…

NB: I just watched a CBS 60 Minutes programm on the war in Congo. And Paul Moreira shot a good piece for Arte as well. It’s good to see that there are exceptions…