Human rights lawyer Jason Mccue explains how his famous friends can make the difference.

Rather sadly my initial interest in Darfur was rather academic – would the poverty and injustice caused by the tragedy lead Darfur to be a recultivated for terrorism? After closely following developments, my inherent passion for Sudan weaned on childhood mystique for Theisenger and films of Gordon and the Mahdi, combined with a growing realisation of the human tragedy, subsumed my academic interest. What could be done to stop the suffering? My desire for campaigning for the cause was given a more than helpful hand by my friend, George Clooney. He was hell bent on not only bringing the plight of Darfur to international attention but also doing something to help abate the unfolding misery. By the time I was fortunate enough to visit the camps in the region, I didn’t need to see the sadness in the children’s eyes or hear the story of a mother, cradling a baby – explaining just weeks before the twin had been decapitated before her eyes by a Jangaweed machete – to have decided that I needed to devote some energy to this cause.

The Darfur conflict is too difficult to explain in a few lines. It is too simple to blame Darfur’s plight on the historic tensions within Sudan – between the more Islamic north and more secular south. Historically, Darfur was always isolated geographically and thus politically. It has fallen prey to neighboring countries seeking to extend their influence. It’s not that long ago when Libyan forces occupied Darfur as that country sought to extend Pan Arab influence in Africa. The current Chadian government with tribal connections to the Darfur rebels uses them as proxies against Bashir’s Sudanese government forces and Jangaweed militia. The rebels have connections to Bashir. Within Darfur, there are age old tribal differences too. If that were not enough trouble to throw in the pot there are also tensions between nomadic farmers and landholding farmers which has been exacerbated by the effect of global warming.

By the time I visited the region, UNSCR 1706 had been passed (an AU/UN hybrid force was to go to Darfur) and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 (effectively a peace agreement to end the civil war between the more Islamic northern powers and the more secular southern powers) should have been well down the road in its implementation. However, Sudan’s government was prevaricating on assisting implementation of either. Such matters as the agreed census, the north south boundary commission report for 2008 and fair elections for 2009 have simply been pushed off the timetable as a result. The northern government seeking to avoid, at any cost, even the blood of innocent Darfuris, the sharing of power with southern and opposition politicians or the potential for southern independence. As was described to me by the local Sultan in Chad, the ensuing “political anarchy” suits the government of Sudan.

It was thus key to tackle the problems on a “contemporary battlefield”; using the media to get the message over and humanitarian aid flowing. Campaigners all over the world set about this task. For our small part, with the help of NGOs such as Crisis Action and Oxfam, we gathered a small team, with encouragement from the current prime minister, to try and see if we could do something. George (Clooney), Bob (Geldof), Mark (Knopfler), Mick (Jagger), Tom (Stoppard), and Elle were but a few of the public figures who played key roles.

We organised international women icons to tour the camps and focus on the plight of women. We worked with Femmes African Solidarite and recently launched parallel peace talks for Sudanese women leaders . We even made a pop record by Mattafix but it was different; it was happy and hopeful, a thank you from the people in the camps to the public that supported them – the video with Matt (Damon) and Desmond (Tutu), filmed in the camps in a war zone, has had over 1.5 million hits on YouTube. At present, the Darfur gold cup is being planned in Dubai (the entrance fee for each horse sponsors a village in Darfur) and through the Sudanese Elhaj family, further humanitarian self sustainable towns like Klaimendo are being planned which like it each will provide normal homes for 5,000 locals who would otherwise be IDPs/refugees. Without the public figures and international corporates, none of this would have happened.

Yet humanitarian aid and advocacy cannot be successful in a vacuum. The peace process must deliver to enable the ongoing efforts to bear fruit. But in the interim, it would be a sin not to try and plant a tree in the hope of fruit or to become depressed when success is nipped in the bud. Efforts create hope and opportunity and provide a means for a future beyond conflict.

Visit the charity “Not On Our Watch” website at www.notonourwatchproject.org

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