Last week the International Criminal Court Prosecutor took a big step forward in his Darfur investigations when he requested a summons to appear for Ahmad Muhammad Harun the former Minister of State for the Interior of the Government of Sudan and for Ali Kushayb, a Janjaweed militia leader in Darfur. The two men have been accused of working together and – significantly – on behalf of the government of Sudan, in committing 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Darfur people.

While this is a very positive move by the ICC, the global community in general and the U.S. in particular must do more. There are a series of important steps our government could take. However the real question is not what we need to do but why our government is not doing more. Why are we not twisting arms at the UN Security Council to get the international community to take tougher action? Why are we not stating clearly that we will give the ICC all the evidence it needs to bring human rights violators to justice?

Is this because our government is partnering with the Sudanese government as part of its war on terror? After all, we know that the CIA feted Salah Gosh, a key architect of the killing in Darfur, at Langley in 2005.

Many Court observers were surprised that Gosh was not named by the ICC Prosecutor – some of these observers suspect that the Prosecutor does not have the evidence to move against Gosh. Does the U.S. have any evidence that would help the Prosecutor? If it did could we be sure it would share it with the Prosecutor?

The President has called the killings in Darfur Genocide. Darfur is the single foreign policy issue that brings Americans together – why is the Administration refusing to back up its tough language with tough actions?

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