Jimmy Carter and Sudan’s genocidal regime

Even worse, in places like Darfur, the government did nothing to account for the large number of displaced people—refugees that had been driven out by the regime in charge of the electoral process.

El-Bashir, predictably, has had an answer for everything. He blames these and other irregularities on poor logistics. All the while, he anticipates his landslide victory becoming official next week.

In a country where a president accused of war crimes can run for reelection, where an ongoing genocide has yet to be addressed, and where most political parties dispute the political process, Carter has clearly put himself on the wrong side of history. Indeed, he has joined forces with a small ruling elite in Khartoum that has oppressed and slaughtered its own people—and supported America’s most dangerous foes.

Results from Sudan’s electoral commission show that El-Bashir has received an impossible 88 to 94 percent of the popular vote in a country where he was directly responsible hundreds of thousands of deaths. Carter endorsed this and gave his imprimatur to an electoral farce. By claiming that the vote was “an opening” for citizens of Sudan to “participate and present their views,” the former U.S. president has demonstrated clearly that he is no friend to Sudan’s people.

Dr. Walid Phares and Khairi Abaza are senior fellows at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.