EDHS Contemporary World Affairs

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/mar/12/darfur-no-fly-zone

With the international criminal court's recent decision to issue an arrest order for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for "being criminally responsible as an indirect (co-)perpetrator [and] for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur", several policy-makers and human rights activists have re-suggested instituting a No-Fly Zone (NFZ) over Darfur to prevent government aircraft from bombing villages.

This proposal received various degrees of support from George Bush and Tony Blair (while they were in power); Prime Minister Gordon Brown ("if it were at all possible"); and repeatedly from President Barack Obama back when he served in the Senate.

While the desire to use airpower to halt the Bashir regime's atrocities is noble, the history of NFZs in Bosnia and Iraq demonstrates that they are poor military tools for protecting vulnerable populations.


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Do you think the no-fly-zone over Darfur is a good idea? Will it help increase the safety of people in Darfur? If not, do you have any ideas of what would help protect these people?