Sudan - Multilateralism's Epic Fail (again)

Out of Sudan today come two interesting bits of news (which I'll summarize for you, because no one follows links anyway): the first, in which the Sudanese Government declares one Canadian and one EU diplomat persona non grata and boots them out of the country (in the case of the EU diplomat... in absentia), and the second, in which Amnesty International has photos of weapons being offloaded from Russian-supplied jets.

Let's deal with the latter first. It's not really much of a secret that everyone and his brother (read here China and Russia) have been selling the Sudanese Government weapons like the Cold War is still in full swing. China, according to some estimates, has provided Sudan with over $100 million worth of fighter jets and helicopter gunships. Pretty rude, considering the United Nations Arms Embargo, but then again, Sudan having been under sanctions from the USA since 1997, it's hardly a surprise that it would seek out countries who are willing to fly under the radar to find the means to pursue its ends - those being the mucky, mucky situation with Chad and the horror that is Darfur.

So how does this link up with the diplomats being expelled from the country? Both Canada and the EU have provided troops to UNMIS (UN peacekeeping operation in Sudan - which, for the record, has a budget of $887.33 million for the 2007 - 2008 financial year), though neither to any great degree. The diplomats were accused of "meddling" in the country's affairs; however, there is no evidence as yet to suggest that either of them indulged in any more than the generic diplomatic urging to find peaceful solutions and play the democracy game, blah blah puppies and rainbows.

The Sudanese Government, then, doesn't really seem to care that the UN is trying to mop up its disaster. In fact, buying weapons when the war is theoretically over makes one wonder if it plans to stop causing disasters at all. China* and Russia are clearly willing to stick their fingers ever deeper into the Sudanese pie despite the disapproval of the UN; as such, one has to wonder what the broader implications for multilateralism (which might well already be on its last legs) will be.

* Of course, if you've spent over $3 billion developing the Sudanese oil industry, more or less solely for your use (as China has), you'd be wanting to keep an eye on your investments.