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    In Darfur, a region in western Sudan approximately the size of Texas, over a million people are threatened with torture and death at the hands of marauding militia and a complicit government. Genocide evokes not only the moral, but also, the legal responsibility of the world community. Under international agreement, a nation must intervene to stop a genocide when it is officially acknowledged.

    "Officially" is the key word here. So far, no nation in the international community has "officially" acknowledged the truth: Sudan is a bleeding ground of genocide. In this void, the Sudanese government continues to act with brutal impunity.

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    However, before one can light a candle, someone has to strike a match: a donation to any of the human rights organizations active in Sudan, contacting your government representative, local newspaper, radio and t.v. station. Our individual activism is essential for the candlepower of witness to overcome and extinguish the firepower of genocide.

    This world has long endured wars that take lives. Let us be part of one that saves them.

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« Talking points that suggest a line of action | Main | The myth of genocide being "difficult to determine" »

July 23, 2004

Wanted: view from the UK and Europe

Sometimes it seems that the UK government is far out ahead, not only speaking tough, but (perhaps) considering troops. E.g.

BRITAIN is ready to send 5000 troops to the violence-wracked Darfur region of Sudan if required, the head of the army, General Sir Michael Jackson, has said.

"If need be, we will be able to go to Sudan," Gen Jackson said in an interview with BBC News 24.

"I suspect we could put a brigade together very quickly indeed."

Asked how many troops that would entail, he replied: "Five thousand."

What do you think of that view?

Other times it seems that the UK is very reluctant, for example, to admit that the Sudanese government is directly responsible for initiating the genocidal process. E.g.


International Development Secretary Hilary Benn today defended Britain’s handling of the crisis.

He said the UK was the largest cash donor and was leading international action to get the Sudanese government to end the violence.

Mr Benn told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that the 120 ceasefire monitors and 300-strong protection force being sent to Sudan could have a “real effect”.

One million people are facing starvation and disease after being driven from their homes in the Darfur region by militias.

Mr Benn acknowledged the Sudanese government had been using the militias to combat rebels in the civil war.

“We have made it very clear to the government of Sudan that if they don’t act to bring these attacks to an end, further consequences will indeed follow,” Mr Benn said.

He stopped short of accusing the government of complicity in genocide, saying it had been “in denial” about what was happening.

Mr Benn added that he had raised the Darfur problem with the government when he was in Sudan last December.

“The government at that time... was refusing to accept that there was a crisis that needed to be dealt with,” he said.

“They made it very difficult for the international community to get into Darfur.

Benn's statements seem quite naive to me--and at odds with the notion of sending troops against the will of the Sudanese government.

July 23, 2004 |

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