Churches told International reaction to Sudan has been "Too Little, Too Late"

Kofi Annan has called on the United Nations Security Council to issue "the strongest warning" to forces fighting in Sudan to bring an end to the civil war in the south and in the western region of Darfur. A UN humanitarian relief coordinator, however, has told churches that the international response to the escalating crisis in the African country has been "too little, too late".

Jan Egeland, who is the Humanitarian Relief Coordinator for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spoke out in public seminar in an effort to make people realise the desperation of the situation. The speech came as part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) international affairs and advocacy week at the United Nations in New York, USA.

Today (Friday 19th November 2004) the UN Security Council is due to adopt a new resolution on Sudan. Human rights groups have been calling for a new tough line to be taken, such as imposing an arms embargo, or to threaten sanctions against the Sudanese government.

The draft of the resolution gave the pledge that financial and political support for peace deals in the country would be provided. However, members had not yet agreed whether to make the threat of sanctions, or whether other possible actions to punish those who did not adhere to a ceasefire or who restricted aid agencies could be implemented.

Colin Powell, the outgoing US Secretary of State, called the violence in Darfur genocide, and in September also accused four Security Council members from China, Algeria, Russia and Pakistan, of valuing business with Sudan more than the humanitarian situation. The outburst came after the four representatives abstained from an 11-0 vote to set up a commission to investigate the charges of genocide against Sudan.

The WCC’s Churches Commission on International Affairs (CCIA) said, “The threshold for intervention should not be the declaration of genocide. Humanitarian relief and intervention actions should happen much before the situation arrives at that level of crisis.”

Leading aid agency, Oxfam have reported that the situation on the ground is deteriorating badly. Bandits cause much chaos and 200,000 people have been recorded as at risk from lack of food and water. Reports of road ambushes are also regular, which force the aid agencies to air lift supplies into desperate towns by helicopter.

Leaders in New York were told, “Moral outrage and fear everywhere” define the current situation in the African country.

John Danforth, the US ambassador to the United Nations, called a meeting to gather the members of the UN Security Council in Nairobi, to give members a chance to meet with experts that are working in the Darfur region trying to end the fighting and to secure a peace deal in southern Sudan.

The seminar moderator was Shirley deWolf, who is a member of the WCC Churches Commission on International Affairs (CCIA), spoke of the importance of building the capacity of churches and church leaders who are currently attempting to create a peace resolution to the atrocities. These churches and church leaders are of particular importance in deWolf’s mind as it will be they that remain in the country long after the aid agencies have left.

Ornulf Steen, the general secretary of the Christian Council of Norway, and member of the Sudanese Ecumenical Forum, discussed that capacity-building was vital if lasting peace is to be achieved, and this was as important as the ongoing work towards reconciliation.

In 1994 the Forum was created to give a platform for advocacy between the churches in Sudan, partner-churches, church-related agencies and ecumenical councils in Africa, Europe and North America.

Steen said that combined with the efforts of councils of churches in Sudan and of the All Africa Conference of Churches, the Forum was an important tool for peace-building in Sudan.

Rev John McCullough, executive director of Church World Service stated, “Women and children suffer disproportionately in Sudan's crisis, and the deep levels of abuse and trauma they have experienced will not be addressed by a written peace agreement signed in a distant city. Churches must think about how to address this issue.”

Peter Weiderud, director of WCC/CCIA said, “The humanitarian work of saving people drowning in a river is normally not controversial. The political response - sending people upstream to find out who is throwing people into the river, understand why this is happening, and develop a constructive answer - can be more controversial.”

In Southern Sudan the war has seen Sudan’s Muslim government stand against rebels who are seeking better treatment and a greater share of the countries wealth. This desire has led to a conflict in which more than 2 million people have been killed – a great number of which have died as a result of war-induced hunger and the spreading of disease.

Western Sudan hosts an entirely separate conflict, which originated in February 2003, when two non-Arab African rebel groups turned to violence in order to gain a greater share of the power and resources available in the region. The Sudanese government have backed the Arab militias, who have been reported over the past year of targeting civilians and displacing countless innocents from their homes.

The Western crisis has escalated drastically over the past 6 months and an estimated 1.8 million people have been driven from their homes, and more than 70,000 have dies since March this year due to disease, hunger and desperate conditions.