Senate sees little progress in Darfur

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing this morning to discuss “The Continuing Crisis in Darfur.” A long line awaited entrance to the hearing half an hour before it commenced, which Chairman Joe Biden (D-DE) cited as a testament to the resonance this issue has with the public. Biden, along with many other senators, said he believed the situation in Darfur is little improved since last year’s April hearing about a “Plan B” to stop the slow-motion genocide.

Jane Holl Lute, officer in charge of the United Nation’s Department of Field Support, cited in her briefing the proliferation of militia groups such as the Jingaweit who are motivated either ideologically or by the widespread lawlessness, as well as the food crisis as main contributors to the problem. She said she expected 80% of the U.N.’s ultimate troop deployment goal to be reached by the end of 2008.

A recurring theme at the hearing was the failure of the international community to contribute the 24 helicopters deemed necessary in Darfur. Biden said that he told President Bush to manufacture 8 new ones domestically if they could not be acquired elsewhere, and said that with a military budget of half a trillion dollars the U.S. should be able to get them. Lute said that there are 4,000 helicopters currently in NATO countries, and the fact that 24 have not been spared for Darfur shows that the genocide is not a high priority for most countries. Richard Williamson of the president’s special envoy to Sudan contrarily said he did not believe the helicopters were within the top three or four concerns, but that deploying troops to get “more boots on the ground” would be a greater help. He also said that President Bush feels “deeply” about the genocide.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said he believes that the U.S.’s lack of greater involvement in Darfur is due to overextension and “waste” in Iraq.

Biden asked if Darfur’s Muslim government is related to U.S. reluctance to intervene more, for fear that it will be perceived as yet again imposing its view on another Muslim culture. Lute replied that this has not been expressed as a significant concern.

Katherine Almquist, assistant administrator for Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said that a military no-fly zone, seen as a possible solution by some, would be seen as a hostile act by the Sudanese government and could interfere with the delivery of humanitarian aid to Darfur.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) mentioned the recent Chinese arms shipment to Zimbabwe and the Sudan, and questioned whether or not the U.S. should pressure China to stop as these weapons will likely be used for repression of civilians and violations of human rights. Williamson said he “continues to be disappointed in China” for these reasons. Sen. Robert Menendez suggested that the U.S. might be allowing China to “get away with” so much because they own so much of its debt, and speculated as to what would happen if the Darfur genocide were occurring in Europe or some other part of the world not in Africa.