Yahia's question: Who will protect Darfuris?
Ronan Farrow,
International Herald Tribune
TUESDAY, JULY 4, 2006
EL FASHER, Sudan On a sun-scorched plateau in the Jebel Marra
mountains, Yahia Abdullah is shouting: "Death to Mini! Mini is a
traitor!" He chants with the hundreds of other men gathered in this rebel
stronghold in northern Darfur, jabbing rifles at the sky and feverishly
decrying the leader of an opposing faction.
Today, Darfur continues to burn - not only with bullets and bombs, but with the
fervor of increasingly divided rebel groups and the men, women and children who
have rallied to their cause. Without swift intervention this crisis could
explode into all-out rebel warfare, with Darfur's six million civilians caught
in the crossfire.
Yahia is 17 years old. He has been fighting with the Sudanese Liberation Army
since he was 13. Early one morning four years ago, Yahia was awakened by the
sound of gunfire. Janjaweed, government-backed Arab militia that have carried
out a brutal ethnic-cleansing campaign in Darfur, had surrounded his village.
On camels and horseback they swept through, killing men, raping women and
setting fire to homes.
Yahia's entire family was slaughtered. He survived by hiding among the corpses
of his relatives.
"I waited with the bodies for hours. And then the bombs started falling
around me," Yahia said, gesturing to indicate the falling explosives often
unleashed by Sudan government planes in support of janjaweed attacks. When it
was over, he walked seven hours, alone, across the desert before encountering
the rebel troops he now calls his family.
Like many other child soldiers among their ranks, Yahia says he was eager to
take up arms. "I am proud to fight with Abdul Wahid," he says,
referring to the leader of his faction of the SLA, who has refused to sign a
May 5 peace agreement. "I will fight to the death in his name. Who else is
there to protect us?"
It is a question echoed throughout every defenseless village and refugee camp
in this region. The world seems to be at a loss for an answer.
The United States, NATO and the European Union have played a game of hot potato
with Darfur, ultimately throwing responsibility into the lap of the African
Union, which dispatched a small force to the region in 2004. But while world
leaders commend the notion of "African solutions to African
problems," the AU is floundering.
It is underarmed, undermanned and on the verge of bankruptcy. It is crippled by
a mandate that authorizes only the monitoring of a constantly violated cease-fire
agreement and prohibits active peacekeeping. Increasing insecurity has caused
the AU to withdraw from four major refugee camps in recent weeks. It has even
ceased patrols to protect women who face rape by janjaweed as they leave camps
to collect water and firewood. Aid workers have also been left without
protection. They could be withdrawn at any moment, leaving the region to utter
collapse.
In the absence of any source of protection, men and boys like Yahia have
flocked to the ranks of disparate rebel groups. All seem gripped with equal
zeal, ready to fight to the death not just the government of Sudan and its
proxy militias, but now opposing rebel factions.
After years of inaction, the United Nations has dispatched a team to Darfur to
assess the possibility of a UN peacekeeping mission. It is a single bright spot
on Darfur's horizon. In refugee camps and villages and even among opposing
rebel fighters, cheers of "UN, UN! We want UN!" erupt. But the man
tasked with deploying a UN force revealed the devastating obstacles such a
mission would face.
On the evening of June 13, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the UN under secretary general
for peacekeeping operations, placed his tray on a mess hall table at the
African Union's barracks in El Fasher. "We will only deploy at the
invitation of the government of Sudan," Guéhenno said, picking over a
modest portion of meatballs. I asked about Khartoum's increasingly forceful
comments rejecting any UN presence. "We just have to hope," Guéhenno
said wearily. "I do believe they will ultimately accept."
But even if the government of Sudan eventually relents, peacekeepers won't be
coming any time soon. "We're looking at six or seven months,"
Guehenno said. "Logistically, it would be difficult to do anything sooner
than that. January 2007 is, realistically, the earliest we might hope
for."
I think back to the rebels chanting on that plateau in Jebel Marra, armed and
feverish. Will the situation hold until January? How can we accept a seven
month wait?
The UN Security Council must ensure that a peacekeeping force with sufficient
manpower and a robust civilian protection mandate is deployed promptly. Greater
diplomatic pressure must be brought to bear on the Sudanese government to
ensure that a force is admitted. Camps and surrounding areas must be actively
safeguarded from the janjaweed and other armed groups. The tenuous Darfur peace
agreement must be enforced before rebel tensions explode.
Yahia's question still echoes. "Who else will protect us?" We must
make sure that the answer comes before it is too late.
Ronan Farrow is a student at Yale Law School. He
recently took his second trip to Darfur as a Unicef spokesperson for youth.
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This article originally appeared at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/04/opinion/edfarrow.php