Culture of Violence

Last Monday, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, made history by charging the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan el-Bashir, with genocide in Darfur. The pundits argue that el-Bashir will show his anger at the charges by retaliating against civilians, aid workers, and the small, helpless contingent of international troops in Darfur. The result will be, as some members of el-Bashir's regime have menacingly predicted, "more violence," as well as starvation after aid flights are blocked. The displaced populations of Darfur and those trying to help them are certainly vulnerable. Although the killings, rapes, and expulsions that produced 2.5 million refugees in 2003 and 2004 have tapered off, Khartoum's agents are still doing damage, still attacking villages.

Church leaders expressed cautious hope over a deal signed by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that lays the framework for negotiations aimed at forming a power-sharing government. The preliminary agreement, mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki, was signed July 21 in a Harare hotel. It sets a two-week deadline for the government and two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to discuss issues, including a unity government and how to hold new elections.

Zimbabwe's ruling party and the opposition MDC began negotiations on Tuesday in neighboring South Africa on a power-sharing deal that could end the country's political crisis, diplomatic sources said. President Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed a deal on Monday that committed the ruling ZANU-PF and two factions of the MDC to two weeks of negotiations with South African mediators. The government and the opposition had been deadlocked over talks since Mugabe was re-elected unopposed on June 27 in a run-off poll boycotted by Tsvangirai because of violence against his supporters. Mugabe blames the opposition for the bloodshed.

The request by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant against the president of Sudan focuses attention on one of the greatest challenges of international relations: whether and how to seek justice during an ongoing conflict, when the worst of the accused perpetrators still hold great power. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC's chief prosecutor, gave advance warning of his intentions, telling the United Nations Security Council last month that he intended to pursue the highest officials for serious crimes in Darfur. Sudan's government responded by making threats intended to intimidate the court. The international community, including humanitarian organizations feeding and protecting tens of thousands of civilians in Darfur, feared damage to the sputtering peace talks on Darfur; damage to an already weakened North-South Sudan peace agreement; even a forced exodus of peacekeepers and humanitarian workers.

Many aid workers and diplomats suffered a panic attack when the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought an arrest warrant this week for the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for committing genocide. They feared that Mr. Bashir would retaliate by attacking peacekeepers and humanitarian workers. But instead of wringing our hands, we should be applauding. The prosecution for genocide is a historic step that also creates an opportunity in Sudan, particularly if China can now be induced and shamed into suspending the transfer of weapons used to slaughter civilians in Darfur.

In a momentous legal move that could pit the immediate stability of Sudan against that regime's long-term accountability for murder and mayhem in Darfur- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted on charges of genocide by International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The prosecutor's indictment argues that over a five-year period, Sudanese state military forces under Bashir's "absolute control" used a rebel insurgency as an excuse to conduct ethnic cleansing of three Darfur tribes from their native land- using tools of mass rape, murder, and deportation. Nearly 2.5 million people were displaced, and some 300,000 people, mostly civilians, died. Bashir denies any wrongdoing.

Unprecedented human rights cases are moving through the courts in countries such as Peru, Argentina and Chile, raising hopes that perpetrators will be brought to justice. But human rights workers continue to come under attack. The apparently contradictory combination is not a coincidence. On June 10, police and busloads of unidentified protesters -- some of whom admitted to APRODEH staff members that they were paid to participate -- demonstrated outside the organization's offices.

A looming battle in Washington state over efforts to create a right-to-die law for the terminally ill is a personal one for two men leading it, both of whom are ill. Fighting for the measure is a former governor who wants the freedom to exercise such a right; fighting against it is a former press secretary who can't imagine anyone wanting to. Proponents are wrapping up a petition drive for Initiative 1000, a death-with-dignity measure that is expected to be on the November ballot. The initiative would let a doctor prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients who are believed to have less than six months to live.

After a decade-long campaign of intimidation in northern Uganda that displaced more than 1.5 million people into camps, Kony finally seemed to be cornered and running out of options. With his forces chased into Garamba National Park in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kony's emissaries entered peace talks two years ago and promised demobilization. A peace agreement ceremony was set for April 10 in the Sudanese town of Ri-Kwangba near the Congo border. Hundreds of delegates, journalists and observers arrived. But after a series of confused excuses -- too many people, not enough security -- it became clear that Kony had no intention of showing up or giving up.

It's a shame that the Iraq war has made it impossible to advocate regime change, because Zimbabwe's strongman, President Robert Mugabe, is such a deserving candidate. While the CIA has been dutifully keeping its powder dry, Mugabe, a despot who lacks oil or nuclear weapons, has become an increasingly lethal menace to his own people.