In reaction to the Obama Administration’s recently released policy on Sudan, the Cornell International Affairs Review (CIAR) hosted a panel of professors last night to analyze the situation in Darfur.

Correction Appended

Ibrahim Mohammed El-Salahi, artist-in-residence at the Cornell Institute of Comparative Modernities, related the tale of the horrors he experienced living in jail as a political prisoner with a disarming smile — one that did not match the mood of his tale. El-Salahi spoke as part of his sharing titled “Project Memoir” at the Toboggan Lodge yesterday.

El-Salahi is a world-renowned painter and pioneer in African modern art. His paintings adorn the walls of famous galleries around the world.

For 10 minutes every morning, I stare into the gaping hole that is my closet trying to decide what I am going to wear. Initially, I thought living in a dorm would help: A tiny closet would force me to pare down my wardrobe to the bare minimum. ­­Instead, I find myself frustrated, knowing that my Arizona uniform of tank tops and shorts isn’t going to cut it during an Ithaca winter.

Yet, as indecisive as I am, I know I should be lucky that I even have a choice over what I wear. It wasn’t until last week, when I heard about Lubna Ahmed Hussein, that I realized it could be any different.

Hussein, a Sudanese journalist, was dining out with friends when authorities raided the restaurant, arresting Hussein and several of her friends.

“I lost family members, including a younger sister … murdered in cold blood and my aunt [was] raped and murdered in cold blood … and three uncles … all murdered in cold blood.”

A stunned silence fell upon the mere nine audience members in Rockefeller Hall as Silvestro Akara Bakhiet, a Southern Sudanese refugee, recounted how he had witnessed the horrors surrounding the second Sudanese civil war in efforts to raise awareness and garner support to help rebuild the devastated Sudanese regions.

Regardless of how you respond to Emmanuel Jal’s documentary War Child, the truth of its footage destroys any debate over its political significance. Once a Sudanese child soldier, Jal has become a figurehead and spokesperson for genocide awareness by sharing his own story with the world. The film splits its time between Jal’s concert tours and seminars (he moonlights as a hip-hope with lyrics inspired by his childhood) and United Nations footage shot about 20-years earlier, prominently featuring a nine-year old Jal in the beginnings of his life as a child soldier.

This past week the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for crimes committed in Darfur. Although surely motivated out of good intentions, this warrant will prove to be a test of the court’s legitimacy and strength. While looking at it that way, we are forced to ask, will the ICC be stronger for it or will it be shown to be another “paper dragon” institution of international governance?