This post by Chris Good originally appeared on Marc Ambinder’s blog at The Atlantic.
Violence in Darfur was a hot topic of discussion during the 2008 campaign, one which all three major candidates–President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain–labeled as genocide, and pledges of action and toughness were met with applause. Now, a coalition of Sudan peace groups is ramping up pressure on the Obama administration to keep its promises to ramp up efforts for peace, launching a campaign of newspaper and online ads highlighting statements made by Obama, Clinton, and Vice President Biden on the pressing need for action in Sudan.
The group includes Humanity United, the Enough Project at the Center for American Progress, Stop Genocide Now, and Investors Against Genocide. They’ve also launched a website, SudanActionNow.com.
While the groups are calling for added urgency, Obama hasn’t exactly done nothing. The administration is preparing to release a review of U.S. policy toward Sudan–hence the timing of the ads–but Obama has already designated a special envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force Maj. Gen Scott Gration, an Obama security adviser who was raised in Africa. So far, Gration has visited not only Sudan, but its neighbors, as well as London, Paris and Beijing.
The administration has focused on getting humanitarian aid groups back into Sudan, after they were kicked out by President Omar al-Bashir.
See PolitiFact’s breakdown of the administration’s progress and action on Darfur here.