SPECIAL POLITICAL AND DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE
(SPECPOL)
INTRODUCTION
Being a delegate at the National
High School Model United Nations (NHSMUN) is what anybody can ever desire for.
I must state categorically here, that I am very delighted to be a delegate and
most importantly a member of the committee on. Special political and
Decolonization committee (SPECPOL).
A committee that deals on current world
political happening creating public concerns. Consequently, representing the
people of Zimbabwe is what I also greatly appreciate. In situations like this
one, it is expected that I write a position paper on my country’s stated on a
particular issue. In this case, Zimbabwe and her connection and say in the
politics of peacekeeping in Draper in the all-important topic –The politics of
peacekeeping in Dapper.
Darfur is a city in the western part
of Sudan. Sudan got her independence from great Britain in 1956 and shares
beders with other African countries such as central African Republic and chad.
Darfur, a city in Sudan just like other warring factions and clans in the world
since 2003, has known no peace and tranquility. It is a faction that has become
synonymous with chaos. People are shot in the head and taken captive faster
than they can take a blink. Insecurity, displacement of persons, gross
violations of international humanitarian laws and wider human right rooms has
become the order of the day.
In situations where anarchy has
ensued like this, it is always expedient to give somewhat insight into the
emanation of the problem on ground so as to be able to rightly bring justice to
the topic. Darpar, according to what history has, consisted primarily of the
four people I an ethnic group; Darpur liter achy translates to “land of fur”)
the fur people were farmers and nomadic camel holders. These farmers depended
on the land and the natural resources of the region such as water. Darpur was
initially taken over by an Anglo-Egyptian government but remained under sedans
government at the independence of Sudan in 1956. when droughts came in the
1960’s different tribes fought for water and febrile land. This no doubt marked
the beginning of Darpur crisis. 2003, marked the beginning of the violence in
Darpur today calling for international concerns. Two rebel groups, the Sudanese
Liberation Army (SLA) and the justice and equality movement demanded the Arab-
ruled Sudanese government to start sharing power since there is need for ethnic
tolerance. Of course this was a fight for a just course as the Darpur people
were marginalized and had no representation in the Al-basher’s government. As
there was no strong government response, the “Janjaweed” initials formed.
According to speculating, they were being spooned by the Government of Sudan.
This Janjawed militias started attacking the rebel groups of Darfur and even
the trouble less civilians of the region. No doubt, this has created acorns in
the wired as the security council of untied nations has time without numbers
passed resolutions on the crisis which I will say has not been able to create
reasonable impact on the crisis because of concisions abnormalities. This I can
say here, is the background of this Darfar crisis.
WHAT THEN IS THE POLITICS IN THE
PEACEKEEPING?
In the state of troubles of regions like this,
international bodies, organizations and league of nations lack always
intervened and that of Darpar cannot be an exception. With such crisis, there
have already been many peacekeeping attempts including the African union
mission in Sudan (AMIS), the united Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) the UN-AU
mission in Darfur in 2007, EU mission in
Chad, and even non-governmental organizations like amnesty international. Why
all these attempts for peacekeeping has not been able to put a cessation to the
crisis is what leaves everyone underling. The truth of the matter is that
peacekeeping in Darfur has been that full of politics and intrigues which I can
boldly state here, that the Government of Sudan (Gos) is the main player.
The fact here is that many efforts
for peacekeeping have been made. My country, Zimbabwe has had involvement in
the peacekeeping mission in Darfur. Even though they have not been in the
sending of military troops to Darfur, she has been in the decision making and
reaching of compromise and consensus as a member of the African union (AU). The
problem as known is that, the Government of Sudan decided to impose Sharia
doctrines in the Darfur people where the problem now came is the fact that most
of Darfur inhabitants are non-Arabs while some are Arabs. This now created
religious tension in the area as the Government of Sudan wanted to exercise
power over them and the inhabitants themselves formed themselves into rebel
groups like Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), Sudanese liberation movement (SLM)
an these two rebel groups affiliated with justice and equality movement (JEM).
Their main objective was to bring to the mind of the leader of the Government
of Sudan Al-Basher that as human beings, they have the fundamental human right
of choice of religion and they can never be forced to believe what their
conscience is battling with. The grievances of these rebel groups did not end
here. The representation that the Darfur people had in the state machinery was
nothing to write home about. It was marginalization in the highest order. No
wonder the Sudanese Liberation Army made it clear that the government should be
divorced from any religious influence in a statement which wrote. “Religion is
a source of spiritual and moral inspiration for our people and the entire
humankind in their pursuit of peaceful interaction and greater moral and
spiritual ascendancy. The state machinery belongs to all Sudanese regardless of
their religious or spiritual values and its neutrality must be preserved.
Religion and politics belong to two different domains” .
This struggle by the Darfur factions
and clans to put a stop to man finalization caused more violence. This made the
Government of Sudan to try to bring Darfur inhabitants (both Arabs and
non-Arabs) under control.
Even within Darfur there are also
strife between those living in there over arable land for farming and the water
bodies. All these made Darfur become synonymous to chaos. The untied Nations
(UN), the Eu troops, Amnesty international and other Non-Governmental
organizations have made frantic efforts to bring about peace in Darfur but the
fact that different groups wants to be in the position of superiority has left
all these efforts in futility. The Government of Sudan noticing that allowing
foreign intervention will be detrimental to them employed tactics. They argued
that, foreign intervention will bring about a form of nco –colonialism and that
this is a crisis taking place in affection of a country which the country is able
to settle. They used this to resist foreign troops from taking part in
peacekeeping in Darfur so that they will use the opportunity to achieve their
aim of haring, absolute power in Darfur.
One might then ask, why did the
Government of Sudan allow African union mission in Darfur to operate. They felt
that, with AU troops take control and AU troops cannot do the job of bringing
about peace alone without aids as it acorns foreign troops. To Whisen the whole
case, the guidelines and communication institutions dispatched to the AU troops
are in German language which these military personals cannot understand. This
has in a great measure helped Government of Sudan in their bid to have absolute
power on Darfur. The Sudanese liberation movement, the Sudanese Liberation Army
and the Justice and Equality movement on their own part is seriously resisting
the Government of Sudan and trying to gain control power over their territory.
At a point in time, some parts of the Sudanese Liberation Army joined the
Government of Sudan when the GOS speculated that she wants peace talks which is
a facility. The justice and equity movement also suspected that SLA are now
joining the Government of Sudan and decided to fight them and gain control
while he branch of the Sudanese Liberation Army still standing is still
fighting to gain control themselves also. These and more are the politics of
peacekeeping in Darfur, Sudan.
DARFUR CRISIS AND GENOCIDE
Of course, my country’s stand here is important. When
the Government of Sudan paid less attention to the SLA’s, SLM’s and JEM’s
agitation for religious tolerance and good representation, the “Janjaweed’
militias came up. These militias are said to be sponsored by the Government of
Sudan. The Janjaweed militias have been attacking the rebel groups, the AU groups
and refugee camps even across the borders of Darfur in Chad. They kill innocent
civilians that are displaced and seeking for help. They are violent and
unforgiving. They attack army tribe involved in the confect. They said refugee
camps and leave far survivors of course, anybody could believe that, this
synonymous and akin to the Rivernda Genocide of 1994 where nurse than 800,000
inhabitant of Hutus and Tutsis were left dead. My country agrees with this
believe.
POSSIBILITY OF ELECTION
As known, there can never be any meaningful
development in an astrosphere of insecurity gross violation of international
humanitarian laws and wider human rights norms, anarchy and gross misconduct of
those at the helm of affairs. The truth remains that there can be no election
ins Sudan in her current state. Zimbabwe as my country is standing firm on the
believe that election cannot be carried out in Darfur without a new peace
agreement. Of course, the reason for this stand in not far-fetched because it
is so glaring. The election is going to be filled with irregularities, riggings
and people electorates) will be afraid of coming out to vote for lack of
security and fear of being killed or kidnapped. Zimbabwe has had election in a
time of violence and the outcome was devastating. When the current prime
minister, Robbert Mugabe contested with Morfan Tvangaa in the midst of my
countries violent state, Robbert Mugabe told the country’s electoral body not
to announce the election result. Morfan Tvangarai seeing that it is obvious
that be has won and needs to ascend the position, went to court to appeal. At
the end, a power sharing deal was reached. The fact remains that no reasonable
election can be carried out in Darfur if no peace agreement is reached.
WHAT THEN IS THE SOLUTION
I’m
delighted that this question is coming up at the summary of this position
paper. The issue here is that the referral by the security council of the
situation to international criminal court (ICE) was “ill-adviced”. As my
country has come to believe, this will worsen the problem in the country as the
rebel groups seeking for power in Sudan will make sure that another coup occurs
in Sudan with the opportunity of the president being in the ICC out of the
state. The truth here is that Al-Basher should come back and settle in Sudan
and reach peace deal with the rebel groups. The Government of Sudan and the
rebel groups should go to the negotiation table and employ diplomacy in setting
this problem. A power sharing deal between the tow groups should also be made
possible to ensure equal representation in the government. When this is
concluded, military troops of the untied Nations, African Union European union,
united states and other interested bodies should be allowed to undertake
through peacekeeping mission in Darfur. When peace is finally restored,
election can then be carried out. This and nothing less is the only panacea to
the lingering crisis in Darfur and it will bring peace, security, respect for
human right, dignity, democracy and tangibility to Sudan. With this, I bet the wired
that Sudan as a country will become a safe haven and a place to live in.