Severe Malnutrition and Starvation Consume the Nuba Mountains

Empty promises by the world’s statespersons are as useless as dead donkeys to the people of South Kordofan and the Nuba Mountains who continue to face an onslaught of violence and forced starvation at the hands of the Government of Sudan (GoS).

Promises to halt crimes against humanity and genocide early on were platforms that both Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton ran on during their bid for the U.S. presidency. It’ also something they have repeatedly touted as being part and parcel of their administration. Neither, though, has come through for the people of the Nuba Mountains. Such false promises are both are unconscionable and hypocritical. It is much easier, of course, to make promises as a candidate than to keep them once elected (or, in Clinton’s case, once appointed). Be that as it may, when promises bear upon a group’s (and peoples’) very existence then they are of a different order from those that deal with addressing bloated bureaucracies, avoiding partisan politics, and cutting back on taxes, et al. While the latter are important, the former literally constitutes a matter of life and death.

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Time and again as a U.S. Senator Obama called for strong measures and actions against the GoS, including tougher sanctions and the implementation of a no-fly zone over Darfur. For example, in a talk he gave to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in 2007, then Senator Obama asserted the following:

Many around the world are disappointed with our [U.S.] actions. And many in our own country have come to doubt either our wisdom or our capacity to shape events beyond our borders…. But I know what I have found in my travels over the past two years…. At a camp along the border of Chad and Darfur, refugees begged for America to step in and help stop the genocide that has taken their mothers and fathers, sons and daughters…. So I reject the notion that the American moment has passed. I dismiss the cynics who say that this new century cannot be another when, in the words of President Franklin Roosevelt, we lead the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good.

One has to wonder whether Obama has forgotten such words and sentiments. Perhaps he really did mean them as they related to Darfur. Sadly, though, based on his actions thus far as president, they don’t seem to resonate with him in regard to what is currently taking place in the Nuba Mountains. During his first presidential campaign, Obama commented as follows when queried about the mass murder in Darfur: “We can’t say ‘never again’ and then allow it to happen again. And, as President of the United States, I don’t intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter” (italics added). No? Well, it is happening again and Obama has largely been silent. 
 While both U.S. government officials and scholars continue to debate what to call the atrocities in the Nuba Mountains (and the Blue Nile region), many agree that based on al Bashir’s previous genocidal actions in the Nuba Mountains in the 1990s and in Darfur throughout the first decade of the 2000s, there is a distinct possibility that the current killing in the Nuba Mountains could morph into genocide. And, in fact, it appears that the GoS is, once again, as it was in the early to mid-1990s, guilty of genocide by attrition as it prevents humanitarian aid from reaching between 200,000 and 300,000 people in the Nuba Mountains who are not only in dire need of food but are literally starving to death as these words are written and read. On August 17, 2008, while speaking at a presidential forum, Obama, sounding for all the world like a statesman who truly cared about the fate of those facing violent ethnic cleansing and possibly genocide, stated the following in regard to the criteria he would use to commit troops around the world if genocide broke out somewhere:

I don't think that there is a hard and fast line at which you say, “OK, we are going in.” I think it is always a judgment call. I think that the basic principle has to be that we have it within our power to prevent mass killing and genocide, and we can work in concert with the international community to prevent it, then we should act. … I think that international component is very critical. We may not get 100 percent agreement.... [T]ake an example like Bosnia, when we went in and undoubtedly saved lives we did not have U.N. approval, but there was a strong international case that had been made that ethnic cleansing was taking place, and under those circumstances, when we have it within our power ... we should take action” (italics added).

Again, it must be asked: Did Obama really mean what he said? Or, was he merely spouting words to the electorate to pull in voters, to seduce them into believing that he, as president, would be proactive in attempting to prevent mass death of innocent people at the hands of despots and genocidaries? It is hard to tell. But as the crisis in the Nuba Mountains continues unabated, many are beginning to sense that he did not really mean them -- that the words were merely uttered as a way to garner more votes. Tellingly, while running for president, Obama was not a little critical of President George W. Bush’s approach to Darfur. During a presidential debate on October 7, 2008, Obama, offering such criticism, made a promise to be more proactive when genocide (and one must assume, a potential genocide) was on the horizon:

We may not always have national security issues at stake, but we have moral issues at stake. If we could have intervened effectively in the Holocaust, who among us would say that we had a moral obligation not to go in? If we could've stopped Rwanda, surely, if we had the ability, that would be something that we would have to strongly consider and act upon. So when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us. And so I do believe that we have to consider it as part of our interests, our national interests, in intervening where possible. But understand that there's a lot of cruelty around the world. We're not going to be able to be everywhere all the time. That's why it's so important for us to be able to work in concert with our allies. Let's take the example of Darfur just for a moment. Right now there's a peacekeeping force that has been set up and we have African Union troops in Darfur to stop a genocide that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. We could be providing logistical support, setting up a no-fly zone at relatively little cost to us, but we can only do it if we can help mobilize the international community and lead. And that's what I intend to do when I'm president (italics added)

What one must ask is: “If you truly believed what you said, Mr. President, then why haven’t you helped mobilize the international community to save the Nuba Mountains people from sure starvation? Why haven’t you helped to arrange and then support a no fly zone over the Nuba Mountains in order to prevent Antonov bombers and MIGs from destroying villages, home, and yes, human lives? Why didn’t you, back in January, when your Administration was discussing this very matter, push the international community to establish a humanitarian corridor to get desperately needed food to infants, young children, boys and girls, women and the elderly? If you had, and were successful in doing so, the situation in the Nuba Mountains would be radically different today. But you didn’t, and thus instead of ‘merely’ suffering malnutrition, as they were back in January, the Nuba Mountains people are now suffering severe malnutrition and dying of starvation. Bodies of those who have starved to death up in the mountains are being buried along the cliffs. Those who are clawing their way across the muddy, swampy and nearly impassable land and rivers of Sudan in a desperate to effort reach refugee camps in South Sudan are perishing along the way, to the tune of 25 to 40 people a day. “To some, 25 a day may not sound like a big deal. But it is. Each individual is a human being with hope, aspirations, fears, anxieties, desires, and, yes, loved ones. Imagine, if you can, what it would mean to you if on any given day three of the 25 were your wife, Michelle, and two children Malia and Sasha. How would you feel? Would you not want someone with power acting on their behalf? If so, are those parents who are losing their beloved children any different from you and me? What is preventing you from speaking out more forcefully? From using the U.S. Presidency as a bully pulpit? From taking a moral stand? “As for the 25 to 40 deaths a day, please allow me to put that in a little more perspective for you. Taking the low number of 25 deaths a day, over a course of a week that comes to 175 innocent people. Over the course of a month that amounts to 700 innocents dead. Over the course of a year (and remember, this onslaught against the Nuba Mountains began just over a year ago) that comes to 8,400. If the forced starvation of the Nuba Mountains people continues for another year then that number, at a minimum, will be 16,800. But, as I said, that is at a minimum. People -- mothers, grandmothers, grandpas, teenagers, children and infants, are already scavenging the ground for leaves, insects and roots to eat. Over time even such sorely limited substance will be all but gone. In light of the dire circumstances on those barren mountains, the number of deaths could easily become double (33,600), triple (50,400) or quadruple (67,200) that number.” It is possible, of course, that President Obama and his team are involved in back channel diplomacy, but is that really wise in a case such as this -- that is, in a situation where the GoS has carried out bombings for twelve straight months that have resulted in an untold number of civilian deaths? Where an estimated two to three hundred thousand people are without adequate food and, literally, starving to death? A situation that has resulted in refugee camps in South Sudan that are literally overflowing, and now facing an outbreak of cholera? And that is not to mention that all of this is resulting from the decisions of Omar al Bashir, who has committed genocidal acts twice in the past 20 years and is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide for the atrocities perpetrated by Darfur. Working the back channels with a genocidal government in attempt to gain some traction vis-à-vis the Nuba Mountains crisis is not a little reminiscent of Obama’s former, Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration’s comment several years ago about how to handle the violence in Darfur: "We've got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries -- they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement." When Antonov bombers and MIGs are bombing villages and towns and helicopter gunships are strafing the same and people are starving to death, it is not time for smiley faces, gold stars, handshakes and talk, talk and more talk. It should be duly noted that Obama was not the only one to make promises about facing genocide head on in an attempt to halt it. In a video op-ed for the Save Darfur Coalition in 2007, U.S. presidential candidate Hilary Clinton said, "Standing silent while Darfur continues to fester is not only irresponsible, and not in our interest; it is morally wrong." One can only wonder: “Mrs. Secretary, in your view, does your pronouncement not apply to the Nuba Mountains? If they do, then how come your administration has not been as proactive as you said the U.S. government should be in the face of such a crisis?” In a presidential debate Clinton was asked what she thought was needed to quell the killing in Darfur, and in response she said:

As President, I will bring the international community together through American leadership to stop the killing and prevent a second wave of genocide in Darfur (italics added). I have been speaking out since 2004, calling on NATO, the U.N. Security Council, and the African Union to take strong action to stop the genocide in Darfur… Washington must play a greater and more consistent diplomatic role in supporting a political process to bring about peace on the ground. Finally, the United States must be prepared to implement meaningful measures, including imposition of multilateral sanctions, an arms embargo, and a no fly zone for Sudanese flights over Darfur if the Khartoum government continues to prevent deployment of the peacekeepers. I firmly believe that the United States, like all nations who stand for freedom and respect for human rights, has the moral responsibility to condemn, in the strongest manner possible, the actions of the Sudanese government against its own people. 

 When I am President, the United States will maintain high-level, consistent, and sustained involvement in Darfur until the violence has stopped and the conflict has been resolved (italics added).

Does Hilary Clinton, now that she is U.S. Secretary of State, feel the same way today in relation to the crimes being perpetrated in the Nuba Mountains by the GoS? Does she still adhere to the same beliefs? It certainly doesn’t seem so. Twelve months into the ravaging of the Nuba Mountains and the forced starvation of an untold number of people, the silence of Obama and Clinton is more than deafening, it is deadly.