President Obama On-The-Record On Sudan

After months of delegating the U.S. response to Sudan to his surrogates, President Obama today personally addressed the challenges that have left more than 3 million Darfuris displaced from their homes and many people – even some in Obama’s administration – warning of an impending return to countrywide war.

In a live Q&A broadcast on YouTube and the White House website, President Obama took questions posed by citizens across the country, many of them following up on his State of the Union address last week. YouTube’s forum generated a massive amount of public interest: 64,968 people cast 774,451 votes on 14,477 questions. Thanks to the overwhelming response from our readers, who amplified their support via Twitter and Facebook, and the help of partners like Change.org and Invisible Children, who blasted our message out to their masses of followers, Enough’s question landed at the top of the foreign policy category. Enough intern Alison Grady did the honors, eloquently voicing our collective concerns to the president about the direction of U.S. policy toward Sudan.

The most significant portion of President Obama’s response was his comment about engagement versus pressure (from White House transcript):

“We continue to put pressure on the Sudanese government. If they are not cooperative in these efforts, then it is going to be appropriate for us to conclude that engagement doesn't work, and we're going to have to apply additional pressure on Sudan in order to achieve our objectives.”

In principle, this response is on-point. But with national elections just three months away and the South slated to vote for independence or unity one year from now – two landmark events that have the potential to trigger widespread violence – the time for wait-and-see is quickly passing by the day.

Since President Obama took office, an estimated 2,500 people have been killed in violent clashes in southern Sudan, amid suggestions that the spike in violence may be tied to efforts by the ruling party in the North to destabilize the region, and that all parties may be gearing up for a return to war. So here’s a follow-up question, Mr. President: What is the threshold for deciding that the U.S. needs to ratchet up pressure? What are you waiting for?

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