Darfur: No sanctuary

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/25/opinion/eddarfur.php
Published: December 25, 2006

Here is the latest twist on Darfur's never-ending horrors: Refugees from the neighboring Central African Republic have fled to Darfur recently as the killings and atrocities have spilled across Sudan's borders. If Darfur's grim tally — several hundred thousand dead, two million driven from their homes — can't persuade the world to act, then perhaps the threat of a regional conflagration will.

There is no lack of hand wringing. This month, President George W. Bush's special envoy, Andrew Natsios, gave Sudan until Jan. 1 to allow a somewhat more robust peacekeeping force into Darfur. But Natsios did not say what price Sudan would pay if it continued to refuse, only that the Bush administration would move on to a classified "Plan B."

While Natsios' demands drew the usual sneers from Khartoum, Sudanese officials appeared genuinely spooked by news that the International Criminal Court's prosecutor would soon be ready to present war-crimes charges against those responsible for the atrocities. One Sudanese legislator suggested that his government might drop its objections to United Nations peacekeepers in exchange for a promise of immunity from the court. That's a no-go. But it is also a sign that Khartoum is vulnerable to outside pressure if it is real. Even before the court moves, the United States should rally Western governments to freeze the assets of all Sudanese officials implicated in the genocide.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for imposing a ban on Sudanese military planes and helicopters flying over Darfur. That would at least stop them from bombing and strafing villages. Western planes could also attack janjaweed militias once they crossed into the Central African Republic and Chad. Bush and Blair should immediately press the Security Council to authorize the no-flight zone. If China balks they should make it a NATO mission. And if NATO balks, the two should enlist the support of France — which has an air base in Chad — and impose the ban themselves.

Natsios is a good diplomat. But the crisis needs someone with more clout. Bush and Blair should jointly appoint a high-level envoy — former President Bill Clinton or Richard Holbrooke, the Bosnia negotiator, come to mind — to warn Sudan's protectors that the West is finally ready to act, with their backing or without it. The envoy would deliver the same message to Khartoum, along with an offer to negotiate a peace settlement. That's a good start on a Plan B, and years overdue.