“Time is running out for the people of Darfur"

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Over the last four years, more than 2.1 million people have been displaced and now live in camps, and more than 200,000 Darfuris have been slaughtered in the first genocide of this century. The UN has called Darfur the world's worst humanitarian disaster and the US has labeled it genocide -- the second of the last two decades. If history teaches us anything it is that if the US does not take the lead on genocide, no one else will.

As a result of fragmented US and international policies towards Sudan, we are faced with a dangerous deterioration that threatens a simultaneous resurgence of lethal conflict in Darfur and the South, and risks deepening regional instability. In the south, the Government of National Unity is at risk of falling apart as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is not being implemented and key parties are withdrawing. Two million died in the South during the last war. Darfur's catastrophic conflict is deepening now and the humanitarian aid that feeds over 2 million is in peril due to the spreading violence, while the Sudanese are using force composition to stall the entrance of UN peacekeeping forces.

Governor Richardson has outlined his strategy for the US leadership to take significant and meaningful action in the Darfur region and south Sudan.

His strategy is based on two decades of experience in dealing with the Sudanese. As a Congressman in 1996, he rescued three Red Cross workers from rebel leaders. In September 2006, he secured the release of journalist and New Mexican Paul Salopek and two Chadian aides from the Sudanese Government. Finally, this past January he negotiated a cease-fire between Sudanese President Al-Bashir and key rebel groups.

1. America needs a coherent “whole Sudan” policy to preserve the achievement of the 2005 “Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), while ending the conflict in Darfur. US policy must reflect Sudan's complex reality. Sudan's conflicts are interrelated and cannot be solved individually.
2. America must make peace in Darfur a much higher priority and recognize that Sudan poses a threat to our national interest and is an insult to our national ideals. Should Sudan become a failed state it risks terrorist infiltration. We need intensive, integrated diplomacy dedicated to ending this crisis.
3. America must engage Sudan's economic and political partners -- China, Pakistan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Arab League to build a multilateral coalition with real leverage. That could begin by endorsing the Arab League's commitments on Darfur -- to aid the African Union's mission, to fund development in Darfur, and to support the UN hybrid force in Sudan.
4. The UN Security Council should accept no delay in the deployment of the 20,000 strong peacekeeping force, which is due at the end of 2007. We should also deploy a UN peacekeeping force to eastern Chad to prevent a regionalization of the conflict. America should join other wealthy countries to fund refugee camps in neighboring countries and assure that those weak states bend to accommodate, but do not break from the pressure.
5. We should use our full diplomatic weaponry--offering incentives for compliance and threatening multilateral sanctions for resistance to both the Government of Sudan and the various rebel groups.
6. We, as Americans, must lead with our conscience and evaluate our own investments in companies that do business in the Sudan. American investors -- states and individuals -- should send a message to the worst offending companies that they will not invest into those companies complicit with genocide. Minor offenders should also be advised that they place their own companies at risk by partnering with actors complicit in genocide.
7. We must develop agreed upon negotiating positions among the rebel factions, to assure that any common resolution won't be quickly undone by one dissatisfied rebel group
8. Last, America should join the International Criminal Court and endorse one of the best means of holding accountable those who take part in genocide.

Our government must do better. No more part-time envoys, divided leadership and hollow threats. With competent leadership and restored credibility abroad, we can create a comprehensive Sudan policy now, bringing peace to Darfur and all of Sudan.