The Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy wishes to express its shock and frustration with the statements made by Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, in which she referred to the situation in Darfur as “serious” but not genocide in a press conference today.

Last September, then Secretary of State Collin Powell labeled the atrocities in Darfur genocide while testifying before a Senate committee. His statements gave Darfurians hope that when the United States took the reins of the United Nations Security Council, as it is now has, they would finally experience relief from the systematic violation of their human rights. Frazer’s comments imply that this hope will be frustrated.

The people of Darfur and the coalition are encouraged by Ambassador John Bolton’s recent message to U.N. Chief Kofi Annan calling for plans to replace the under-funded and ineffective African Union with U.N. forces. However, we are deeply disturbed by what seems to be an emerging policy of accommodation towards the National Islamic Front (NIF) government in Sudan. Frazer noted in her statements that it was not the NIF directing Janjaweed and other militia groups to engage in the mass killings in Darfur. The coalition and Darfurians everywhere wish to ask Ms. Frazer: if not the NIF, then who is supplying these militias with air support and logistics?

We are unsure why the United States would seek to align itself with powerful criminals and rather than defenseless victims. Furthermore, we do not understand why in the midst of a global war on terror the State Department would make such benign statements about a government that has previously hosted Osama bin Laden. The NIF, Janjaweed and other militias are enmeshed in the world-wide network of terrorist organizations.

In her press conference Frazer also seemed to side-step a question concerning whether the U.S. would be willing to commit troops to a U.N. sponsored force in Darfur. A commitment of manpower to any such force would be ideal for Darfurians because the United States always been a leader in mobilizing international support for humanitarian intervention. But, if the Bush Administration is unwilling to become directly involved, there is still no justification for stepping backwards on its position concerning Darfur. The U.S. is a world leader and must recognize the situation as genocide, doing so is the only way to put the world on notice and to have a real chance of stopping the atrocities.

We at the Damanga Coalition ask the Bush Administration and the leaders of Europe and Asia to fulfill the mission of the United Nations and take action against the genocide in Darfur. It is time to put aside self interest and vindicate the human rights of the Darfurian people.
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