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Pakistan strikes deal with Taliban on Sharia law

This came across CNN's Twitter feed:
Pakistani government officials announced Monday that they have reached an agreement with the Taliban to allow strict Islamic law, or sharia, to be implemented in parts of North West Frontier Province. It marks a major concession by the Pakistani government in its attempt to hold off Taliban militants who have made significant advances inside the country.
Here's the full article.

Arrest warrant issued for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan

From the NYT:
Judges at the International Criminal Court have decided to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, brushing aside diplomatic requests to allow more time for peace negotiations in the conflict-riddled Darfur region of his country, according to court lawyers and diplomats. It is the first time the court has sought the detention of a sitting head of state, and it could further complicate the tense, international debate over how to solve the crisis in Darfur.
For some background, here's a 2008 video of Bashir dancing in Darfur:

Muhajiriya Update

I wrote yesterday about the dire situation of Muhajiriya, South Darfur, in which 196 peacekeepers were the only thing standing between Sudanese government forces and 20,000 civilians huddled around a UN base there. The town has since fallen. Speaking to VOA, John Norris of the Enough Project thinks Khartoum's assault on Muhajiriya was a "test" to see how the new American administration will respond.
"It's clear that the Sudanese government right now is testing the fence, as it were. Obviously, President Bashir is increasingly concerned by what looks very likely like it will be an arrest warrant handed down by the International Criminal Court (ICC), probably as soon as this month. And I think that they are hoping to escalate pressure, not only on the United States, but on the international community, to strengthen their hand and make the at least theoretical case that perhaps, an arrest warrant should be deferred," he said.
Meanwhile, a Darfuri living in the United States relays to UN Dispatch stories of renewed fighting elsewhere in Darfur.
While rightfully all attention is concentrated on town of Muhajiriiyah, other towns and villages around Muhajiriiyah (especially those on the path of [government] and Janjaweed forces) are witnessing atrocities and massive displacements of civilians: 1- Stories of looting, mass graves (family of 9 including father and mother are killed) in the village of Graidah. 2- Massive exodus from town of Labado towards Nyala, south Darfur. 3- Massive exodus from Shiriiya and villages around it towards Nyala and some headed to ElFasher (Capital of North Darfur). 4- All the above mentioned Towns and villages have seen continuous aerial bombardment since Friday.
It's clear that the Sudanese government is genuinely worried about the forthcoming ICC arrest warrant. I've been writing about Darfur since 2004. There is a tension and apprehension in what's happening there like I have not seen in a very long time. I'm pretty nervous myself.

Urgent Need for US Leadership on Darfur

The Enough Project team sees a Srebrenica-type situation threatening to unfold in Darfur.
One hundred and ninety six peacekeepers from UNAMID, the joint AU/UN peacekeeping force for Darfur, are stationed in Muhajiriya, a rebel-held town of 30,000 in South Darfur. The government of Sudan has requested that UNAMID withdraw these troops, as it masses its military forces outside the town and uses airpower to bombard nearby camps for displaced persons. Thousands of civilians have gathered outside the UNAMID base in Muhajiriya, just as thousands gathered around similar bases in Rwanda and Bosnia. Khartoum's intention is clear: a full-scale assault on Muhajiriya regardless of the cost to civilians. Given UNAMID's mandate to protect civilians, it would be nothing short of a shameful capitulation for the UN to abandon its post or to allow the Sudanese government to militarily extort the suspension of the International Criminal Court case against President Bashir through these actions.
The international community, and the Obama administration, now faces a crucial moment. It can abandon 30,000 civilians to state-sponsored violence, or it can embrace its responsibility to protect and make sure that Muhajiriya does not become the next Srebrenica. Rather than withdrawing, UNAMID must immediately reinforce its presence in Muhajiriya, and the United States must spell out specific consequences for the Sudan if it does not immediately cease aerial bombings and abandon its plans for this offensive. This is a clear attempt by Khartoum to test the resolve of the Obama Administration in its early days, and the response of President Obama and the UN will determine the fate of thousands of Darfuris.
I would not worry about "shameful capitulation" by UNAMID. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon sounded the alarm on the situation in Muhajiriya today, affirming that peacekeepers will not back down from their mandate to protect civilians there. Also, peacekeeping doctrine has undergone profound shifts in the wake of the 1995 Srebrenica tragedy to insure that those types of situations will not be repeated. Enough is spot on, though, in calling for American leadership on Darfur. We are already two weeks into the new administration and we still do not have a sense of what their Darfur strategy will look like. As the unfolding situation in Muhajiriya show, time is not on their side. Meanwhile, the tense stand-off at Muhajiriya is but one manifestation of the uptick in tensions that is linked to the forthcoming International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Sudan President Omar al Bashir, widely expected to be handed down in the next couple of weeks. As I wrote in a recent American Prospect piece, the correct response to these threats is for the Obama administration to fulsomely embrace the court and give the arrest warrant its full diplomatic backing.

Samantha Power to the NSC

This is very exciting news. The Pulitzer prize winning author of "'A Problem From Hell': America in the Age of Genocide" and "Chasing the Flame," a biography of slain UN diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, was just appointed the Senior Director of Multi-lateral Affairs at the National Security Council. This means she will have a direct hand in formulating U.S. policy on the United Nations, G-8, and other global forums. The MSM is predictably honing in on "monster-gate," which is sort of silly considering she has apologized profusely for the comment and Secretary of State Clinton has accepted her apology and everyone seems willing and eager to move on. The real story here is will Samantha Power take to working in government? In "A Problem From Hell" (which is probably number one on my list of all-time best foreign policy books) Power describes how government is not well structured to respond effectively to humanitarian crises. Part of the problem, she shows, is that individuals in government sometimes react to these crises in politically expedient ways that do not do much to address or reverse ongoing genocide or mass atrocity. This is less a critique of specific individuals than it is a condemnation of American foreign policy making more generally. Now that she is embedded in the U.S. foreign policy making apparatus the big question on my mind is whether or not she falls victim to the very processes she criticizes so ably in her book. I'm tempted to think that she will not be much of a quiet Mandarin. The heroes of her book are people who rail against the system--people like Raphael Lempkin who coined the word genocide, and Senator William Proxmire, who gave daily speeches on the senate floor on the need to ratify the Genocide Convention. She shows real admiration for these agents of change, and I suspect that she will be an important advocate for human rights in critical inter-agency debates. The thing is, in her book she describes how voices like that get effectively silenced by the bureaucracy and I imagine there will be situations in which her ideals bump against the realities of bureaucratic politics. How will she respond? We will have to wait and see. Above all, though, her appointment may signal a more fulsome U.S engagement on issues like Darfur and Eastern Congo--two of the worst ongoing mass atrocities in the world. That would be a big change over the past eight years. With a giant like Power overseeing policy making on the UN -- and the UN is where solutions to Congo and Darfur are most effectively discussed and implemented -- I am optimistic that we will see more sustained attention paid to these issues at top levels of government. That would be change I can believe in. I wish her the best in her new job.

Amb. Susan Rice: Darfur is an “Ongoing Genocide”

In her first press availability Ambassador Susan Rice had this to say about Darfur.
Well, obviously we remain very deeply concerned about the ongoing genocide in Darfur. The priority at this point has to be effective protection for civilians. And in that regard, our effort and attention will be, and as we discussed this morning with the Secretary-General and colleagues, on effective efforts to support the full and complete deployment of UNAMID so that there is the capacity on the ground to begin to effect that civilian protection.
Obviously, we will continue to look at what is necessary to deal with any obstruction, continued violence or reprisals that may occur anyway or may emanate as a result of a potential indictment. And we want to be supportive of the Special Envoy's efforts to negotiate a lasting peace and resolve the underlying political differences. [emphasis mine]
The previous administration had a disturbing tendency to make claims like this, but then follow up with a lackluster response. Then-Brookings Institution fellow Susan Rice described that policy as "bluster and retreat." I, for one, look forward to a new day in America's approach to the Darfur crisis. I'm encouraged by the fact that Rice so clearly stated that the genocide was "ongoing" because this implies a sense of urgency on the part of the Obama administration to do something about it. So far, though, it's hard to see how that urgency has been manifest. Within 48 hours the President appointed Richard Holbrooke as a special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan and George Mitchell to the Mid-east. Clearly, these are two top-tier America foreign policy priorities. But if the genocide is really "ongoing" as Ambassador Rice says it is, then it would have been nice to see a similarly high-level international troubleshooter assigned the Sudan portfolio.

Highlights From The First Trial at the International Criminal Court

The ICC prosecutor made his opening statements today in the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyalo, a Congolese militia leader accused of using child soldiers. Lubanga has the dubious honor of being the first-ever case tried before the International Criminal Court. Over the course of the next year, the prosecution will call 30 witnesses--including former child soldiers--who will to testify to Lubanga's guilt. The trial, though, almost never happened. There were significant prosecutorial missteps early on, including accusations that the prosecutor did not turn over potential exculpatory evidence as is required. The judges, though, decided to let the trial commence. A Bolivian, British and Costa Rican judge will preside over the hearing. This video of highlights from today's hearing--including an extended excerpt of the prosecutor's opening statement--just landed in my inbox. Great to see that the ICC people are new media savvy.
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This is what a modern day international war crimes tribunal looks like. Get used to it. The ICC's work is just beginning.

“Hell on Earth”

That's Bob Herbert's description of Zimbabwe - and it's hard to dispute:
If you want to see hell on earth, go to Zimbabwe where the madman Robert Mugabe has brought the country to such a state of ruin that medical care for most of the inhabitants has all but ceased to exist. Life expectancy in Zimbabwe is now the lowest in the world: 37 years for men and 34 for women. A cholera epidemic is raging. People have become ill with anthrax after eating the decaying flesh of animals that had died from the disease. Power was lost to the morgue in the capital city of Harare, leaving the corpses to rot.
Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, a pioneer of online politics and activism, is using Twitter to draw attention to the terrible situation in Zimbabwe.