When news leaked last night of the International Criminal Court’s anticipated issuance of an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, we at Enough were sure of our opinion on the decision. As we argue in “What the Warrant Means: Justice, Peace, and the Key Actors in Sudan,” a strategy paper released today, the issuance of an arrest warrant against Sudan’s sitting head of state offers the Obama administration a chance to catalyze multilateral efforts to bring about a solution Sudan’s decades-long cycle of violence.
The ICC’s likely move could constitute the crucial missing ingredient to conflict resolution efforts in Sudan by providing justice and accountability for the horrific crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated by the warring parties in Sudan, primarily the Khartoum regime. Enough firmly holds that:
Peace without justice in Sudan would only bring an illusion of stability without addressing the primary forces driving the conflict.
In the strategy paper, we lay out “next steps” for the Obama administration in the weeks and months following the ICC’s anticipated decision, and we outline a comprehensive policy approach to Sudan that takes into account the calculations of the key actors as well as possible scenarios that could occur as the situation in the country continues to change.
We strongly urge the Obama administration to follow through on its promises to end the crisis in Darfur and lead international efforts toward a peaceful future in Sudan.