America's Obama and Sudan's Bashir: Let's Make a Deal

Barack Obama and Omar al-Bashir seem unlikely bedfellows. At least I thought so when I voted for Obama in November 2008. As we all know, Obama is the President of the United States of America and the leader of the free world. Bashir is the President of Sudan and an indicted war criminal responsible for 300,000 deaths and the displacement of three million more in Darfur, and for the earlier deaths of two million people in South Sudan.

Obama's words on the campaign trail led me to believe that he would take firm and decisive action once elected to pressure Bashir and the Sudanese government to end the killing in Sudan and make reparations to the millions of people they had victimized. I, along with many voters, believed that the United States, under the leadership of Barack Obama and supported by Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, would work assiduously to ensure that both peace and justice would come to Sudan. All three leaders, as candidates, emphasized that the U.S. has a moral obligation to do what it can to end genocide and other mass atrocities.

However, since taking office, Obama's Sudan strategy appears to be based on appeasing Bashir rather than pressuring him to stop ongoing human rights violations or, better yet, bringing him to The Hague to face justice. While in other arenas Obama seems to carefully study history and seek the counsel of a wide range of experts, on Sudan he seems blind to the lessons of the past or unwilling to accept their implications.

Sudan experts like John Prendergast, Eric Reeves and Roger Winter all agree that using clear pressures to ensure strict accountability to established benchmarks is the only approach that has induced desirable behavior by Bashir in the past. However, the U.S. heralds every new agreement signed by this dishonorable actor as a show of progress. It remains a mystery whether this reflects official U.S. Sudan policy since the Administration has not disclosed clear benchmarks to measure progress in Sudan nor the pressures and incentives it will use to help influence positive change.

I was puzzled when Obama hand-picked Retired General Scott Gration as his special envoy to manage the Sudan portfolio since Gration had neither diplomatic experience nor knowledge about Sudan. My puzzlement soon turned to dismay as the General's personal diplomacy philosophy became clear. Gration believes that "cookies and gold stars" are the best approach to influence a war criminal and has repeatedly put talk of sanctions relief on the table even in the midst of ongoing killings in Darfur.

Gration's performance as envoy has understandably raised the ire of many who care about the future of Sudan and the fate of millions of displaced Darfuris. The New Republic has labeled him "an embarrassment." Roger Winter calls him "the Agent of this tragedy." A group of 38 US and Darfuri human rights groups have strenuously asked Obama to relieve Gration of his duties, following a highly questionable "off the record" meeting he had with Darfuri expatiates in which he reportedly told them that the government of Sudan had not intended to kill Darfuri civilians during the genocide.