Humanitarian Workers in Darfur - On Borrowed Time?

by Michael Bear

category: Humanitarian Relief

Published January 23, 2009 @ 04:57PM PT

Word on the street has it that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will issue an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Bashir in early February, holding him responsible for much of the violence in Darfur.

Before we begin congratulating ourselves on the triumph of international justice, however, it's important to look at the possible consequences.  As I've written before, the Sudanese Government will almost certainly react - in fact, Sudanese officials have already started threatening aid workers and journalists.

Steve Bloomfield - a journalist friend from Nairobi-days - recently interviewed John Holmes, the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs / Emergency Relief Coordinator, about what impact the ICC indictment would have on humanitarian operations in Darfur.

With Steve's kind permission, am re-printing part of the interview (which originally ran in Newsweek) below:

"NEWSWEEK: The ICC judges are expected to decide soon whether to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir. What reaction do you expect from the Sudanese government?
HOLMES: Ultimately, they could throw everyone out. It will leave them with a terrible mess and they won't be able to feed their own people.

What conversations have you had with the Sudanese government about it?
We've told them 'we expect you to leave our operation alone' but I honestly don't know what they will do. They will feel obliged to lash out in some way. Some of them are saying 'give the bastards a good kicking'.

There have already been threats made against U.N. officials and aid-agency workers in Sudan. Are you planning to remove staff?
Lots of contingency plans have been made. We don't know when the decision will be made but we expect it will happen some time in January or February. People may be moved out, yes. You can't imagine nothing will happen.

Sudan's allies claim an indictment could have a detrimental effect on the Darfur peace process.
There is no peace process at the moment. Unfortunately very little is happening on that front."

A recent IRIN article - "Anything possible" if ICC indicts president - looked at this issue in more detail.  According to the article:

"NGOs already face huge difficulties obtaining visas for staff and getting travel permits. Even to transport fuel, every single time, you need a half-dozen signatures,' one aid worker said. Officials from the Humanitarian Aid Commission have raided aid workers’ offices, demanding to see confidential emails and files, though the government denies the accusations.

Humanitarian actors fear an indictment will only make their work more difficult. 'I don't think there will be violence in the street,' the aid worker said. 'I think it'll be more of a clampdown on space for humanitarian agencies to operate. I think that's pretty much guaranteed.'"

I now eagerly await a response from my genocide co-blogger Michelle, who argues that the ICC's actions are not only justified, but necessary.  And yes, the gauntlet has been thrown down once again.

[Aid agency distributing food in Darfur - photo from CRS]