This week an International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor indicted Sudanese President Bashir for war crimes in conjunction with the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. There has been much debate as to how this will affect the UN/AU peacekeeping effort and the efforts of international NGO’s to provide humanitarian aid to the suffering people of Darfur. African Union peacekeepers have already been attacked resulting in fatalities. Fearing for the safety of their employees, some NGO’s are pulling their people from the area.
One of the problems that English speakers have is that we use the same word, justice, for two different concepts. The ICC prosecutor is trying to establish justice in the legal sense. Legal justice refers to punishing wrongdoers or perhaps exacting revenge. The concept of justice referred to in the Jewish and Christian scriptures is more about social and economic justice. It is about having an adequate amount of food (daily bread) or being free from oppression by a domination system.
Brian Steidle, former US Marine, peace keeper in Darfur and author of “The Devil Came on Horseback” spoke in Idaho last year about his Darfur experience. He was asked by a member of the audience “Who are the good guys”. His answer was “There are no good guys”.
I am not sure that attempting to find the “bad guys” and implement “legal justice” will help the people of Darfur experience “biblical justice”.
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