Getting Serious in Sudan

The Sudanese government has a bizarre understanding of what peace means. Hours after leaders signed a cease-fire agreement with rebels in the western territory of Darfur, government troops stormed refugee camps there, beat inhabitants and forced them to move. The death toll in Darfur is now estimated at 50,000 and will keep rising without stronger action from the international community.

The U.N. Security Council meets in Nairobi this week, with Sudan a major topic. Diplomats are expected to encourage an agreement between the government and rebels in southern Sudan who have fought a civil war for two decades. But they also should take tougher action against the Khartoum government, such as an embargo on Sudanese oil, unless it stops beating and killing people in Darfur.

Weeks of African Union meetings in the Nigerian city of Abuja produced Sudan’s agreement a week ago to end helicopter and plane flights over Darfur. The government denies that it has strafed and bombed the rebels and encouraged its allied militias to rape, beat and kill refugees in more than 100 camps scattered across a territory the size of France, but witnesses say that’s exactly what has occurred.

Rebels in Darfur also have violated a cease-fire they signed in April, though they are no match for the military might of the government. After last week’s incursion on refugees, government officials said those relocated were put in “better camps,” but the lack of prior notice or explanation and the reports of beatings mock that claim.

The conflict began last year, the latest manifestation of a decades-long quarrel over land between the Arabs of northern Sudan, traditionally nomads, and the farming Africans of the south.

The U.S. and other countries have helped with peacekeeping logistics, including flying African Union troops to Darfur. But the number of peacekeepers must be increased quickly. The current 500 are overstretched; even reaching the African Union’s target of 3,300 by the end of the year will not guarantee an end to the atrocities. Credible threats of sanctions against the Sudanese government and the rebels, plus additional international soldiers and police, can increase the likelihood of an end to the killings and forced relocations.