More than one month past its due date, "Plan B" for US policy toward Sudan has yet to be revealed. The "three tiered plan" for coercive measures looms mysteriously as activists and humanitarian aid groups demand action. The Washington Post acknowledges that the US has taken "quiet" actions with aspects of Plan B, such as deploying US Army Colonels to the border between Chad and Sudan. Yet as J. Stephen Morris, the Africa Program Director at Center for Strategic Studies, suggests, the US has avoided explicitly revealing the plan. Last week, the US endorsed the Treasury Department's plan to block commercial bank transactions that connect to Sudan. Still, the US government withholds details of Plan B, thus denying Darfur substantial, sustainable action. Why are we waiting?
Andrew Natsios, the Presidential Envoy to Sudan, is waiting for the Sudanese government to cooperate with Kofi Annan's December 2006 Addis-Ababa Plan, which proposed the deployment of a UN-AU hybrid force to Darfur. I wonder: what motivation, at this point, does the Sudanese government have to stop? Without Plan B pushing Sudan toward action, why would the government suddenly decide to listen to the West?
Conveniently, as the United States government is under increasing pressure to dish out the brilliant Plan B that's been buzzing vaguely for a few months now, Andrew Natsios has allegedly declared that the "situation" in Darfur is no longer a genocide. Yet he does acknowledge the 2006 surge in violence, targeting of humanitarian aid workers, and deteriorating political situation threatening the peace and stability of North and South Sudan and, thus, the region. The humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating, according to Natsios himself.
It is our responsibility to hold our government accountable for acting to prevent systematic civilian murder. Removing an unpleasant term does not solve the problem, nor does it alleviate the urgent need for a Plan B.
Click here to sign a petition asking the Bush Administration to take action.
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