In parts of America you can see lots of bumper stickers proclaiming “Save Darfur”. Before he was elected president, Barack Obama was very much part of the campaign – spearheaded by Hollywood and supported by US Christian lobbies – to focus attention on this war-ravaged part of western Sudan. He is on record as supporting the imposition of a no-fly zone to hamstring the Sudanese air force, and isolating the Khartoum leadership.
So it is to be welcomed that Washington, after months of debate, has adopted a more reasonable approach to the conflict than that promoted by Mia Farrow and George Clooney. The new administration policy is based more on incentives than threats. There is no talk of isolating Khartoum or imposing a no-fly zone, a policy that paved the way for the US and British invasion of Iraq. The exact methods of putting pressure on Sudan’s president, Omar al Bashir, are so far being kept secret – but there is no doubt that a page has turned.
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