TAKE ACTION TO END GENOCIDE IN DARFUR
TAKE ACTION TO END GENOCIDE IN DARFUR
In September 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell made an important declaration to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. After months of State Department investigation, Powell concluded that what was taking place in Sudan's Darfur region was indeed genocide.
In making this declaration, the U.S. government arrived at the same conclusion as countless human rights groups about the violent campaign of the Khartoum government and its militia allies against black Africans.
Aid organizations assumed help was on the way from the world's only superpower. The destruction of villages, gang rapes of women and girls and mutilation of men and boys would at last come to an end.
The aid organizations were wrong. The scale of the calamity has only grown, with as many as 400,000 people dead and more than 2 million now refugees.
Having found a genocide taking place, having vowed never to allow another Rwanda or Srebrenica or Auschwitz to happen again, the United States has — like the larger international community — remained unconscionably idle during the intervening 17 months.
Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan went to the White House to seek President Bush's help in ending the indifference. A small force of African Union monitors will be leaving Darfur next month. The only semblance of protection the refugees have had will leave with them.
Annan is seeking U.S. manpower and support for a much larger, more effective U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur. As in the Balkans, it's a mission the United States is morally compelled to lead.
Bush, thus far, has refused to commit resources to stop the genocide in Darfur. Citizens can voice their support for a belated American-led effort to stop the bloodshed by calling the White House at (202) 456-1111 or e-mailing Bush at president@whitehouse.gov .
In making this declaration, the U.S. government arrived at the same conclusion as countless human rights groups about the violent campaign of the Khartoum government and its militia allies against black Africans.
Aid organizations assumed help was on the way from the world's only superpower. The destruction of villages, gang rapes of women and girls and mutilation of men and boys would at last come to an end.
The aid organizations were wrong. The scale of the calamity has only grown, with as many as 400,000 people dead and more than 2 million now refugees.
Having found a genocide taking place, having vowed never to allow another Rwanda or Srebrenica or Auschwitz to happen again, the United States has — like the larger international community — remained unconscionably idle during the intervening 17 months.
Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan went to the White House to seek President Bush's help in ending the indifference. A small force of African Union monitors will be leaving Darfur next month. The only semblance of protection the refugees have had will leave with them.
Annan is seeking U.S. manpower and support for a much larger, more effective U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur. As in the Balkans, it's a mission the United States is morally compelled to lead.
Bush, thus far, has refused to commit resources to stop the genocide in Darfur. Citizens can voice their support for a belated American-led effort to stop the bloodshed by calling the White House at (202) 456-1111 or e-mailing Bush at president@whitehouse.gov .
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Daniel's note: I encourage you to contact President Bush and the White House even if you're not an American. Ask them to commit resources to Stop Genocide in Darfur. I also encourage you to contact your local government representatives (in your Country, State, or Province) and ask them to do everything they can to Stop Genocide in Darfur. Remember: One person can make a difference.
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Note: Editorial Republished from San Antonio Express-News
posted by Srebrenica Genocide at 8:43 PM
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