George Bush's position on

Darfur (in Sudan): Sudan's government attacks the Africans living in this region. Every day, 10,000 people die in the refugee camps that house over one million people who fled their homes. The UN passed a weak resolution that ordered Sudan's government to cooperate with African Union forces (The UN's hollow threat, Economist, September 20, 2004)

Description of candidate's position. Bush signed a bill that gave $95 in aid to Darfur. Link. http://www.georgebush.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=3176 He dispatched Secretary of State Colin Powell on a fact-finding mission to Darfur. In a recent speech at the UN, Bush praised the peacekeeping efforts of Rwanda and Nigeria, thanked the Security Council for passing the resolution, and called on the government of Sudan to respect the ceasefire and end the "genocide." Link.

Quotation from the candidate. "I call upon the government of Sudan to stop the Janjaweed violence. I call on all parties of the conflict to respect the cease-fire, to respect human rights, and to allow for the free movement of humanitarian workers and aid. The United States and the United Nations and the leadership of the African Union are working to bring relief to the suffering people of that region." Link.

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is one of the US's oldest and largest think tanks. The AEI indirectly praised Bush's actions, noting that "The U.S. government has done everything it can diplomatically to resolve the crisis. For nearly six months Bush, Powell and other senior officials have urgently…demanded that the Sudanese government pull back the militia. The U.S. government has repeatedly threatened "consequences" if Sudan failed to do so. In this, the Bush administration has the support, indeed the encouragement, of a bipartisan, right-left, 'never again' consensus." The AEI believes that the US must now take charge in enforcing this resolution. Link.

Negative: Salih Booker is the head of Africa Action, "the oldest African advocacy organization in the United States." In a scathing op-ed, he said that Bush "cried wolf" about Iraq's WMD. The US is belatedly "crying wolf" about Darfur, and the UN Security Council would not support a strong resolution. In the past, "Washington could have exercised its clout as the most powerful nation in the world and handily won over the support of these recalcitrant members. But now, the country that cried wolf has lost the moral authority it needs to rally its global neighbors to real action against genocide in Darfur." Link

Comparison: Bush has three speeches mentioning Darfur on his website. Kerry has 15 and a separate position page. They both believe that it is a problem, but Kerry has made it a higher priority. Kerry stated that he will make sure that an international peacekeeping unit is deployed; Bush has made no such commitment. Both of the candidates acknowledge the serious nature of the situation and both wanted the UN to pass a tougher resolution. The Security Council certainly disappointed both candidates by not getting tough on the Sudanese government.

Link to John Kerry's Darfur page.