Daily Targum via U-Wire
University Wire
October 21, 2004 Thursday

Cannot ignore genocide

by Staff Editorial, Daily Targum; SOURCE: Rutgers U.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.

The crisis in Darfur, Sudan has been within the realm of human
genocide for 18 months now. Since March, more than 100,000 lives have
been claimed in a government-supported ethnic cleansing of non-Arab
tribesman. The roots of the conflict date back to the 1980s when the
Khartoum government sought to impose complete control over the
inter-tribal systems of negotiation over land disputes which
functioned among the diverse ethnic communities in this region. The
Arab government replaced this ancient system with a manipulative
bureaucracy that has encouraged and endorsed a militant form of
persecution against all those who stand in their way.

The janjaweed, an Arab term for “devils on horseback,” ride from
village to village, systematically raping women, burning homes and
killing anyone with black skin who lives there. According to the
World Health Organization, 70,000 people have perished of hunger and
illness in refugee camps since March, and the total is still rising
by 5,000 to 10,000 deaths per month.

U.N. refugee camps in Chad are currently buckling to support the 1.5
million people who have been displaced and fled their homes in
Western Sudan. Chad, itself, signed an agreement Monday expressing
strong support for the Sudanese government along with 3 other
nations: Egypt, Nigeria and Libya. Humanitarian efforts lead by The
Red Cross, Amnesty International and WHO are severely hampered by
such declarations. They only encourage the continuing violence,
making it unsafe for aid workers to even deliver food and resources
that may be available to save lives.

President George W. Bush in the first presidential debate, for the
first time, labeled the crisis as genocide. Under Article 2 of the
1948 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights, such a classification
necessitates the action of countries that have ratified the
declaration. Unfortunately, with genocides, such statements typically
have come too late. Examples of this include the Rwandan situation of
1994, and, historically, such tragedies as Armenia, which stand as
reminders this can never happen again.

The success of the NATO-led Kosovo intervention is a case in point
that united, the world can stamp out such undeniable injustices if
action is taken strongly and swiftly.

The current international aid efforts besides those led by
non-governmental associations have proved ineffective in the face of
such unprecedented chaos. The U.N. threat of sanctions led to a
ceasefire in April, which the United Nations declared yesterday as
not holding and clearly not a strong enough action.

Other possible plans of action include raising the costs of this
ethnic cleansing by imposing an arms embargo on Sudan, travel
restrictions on senior officials and no-fly zones. This will not be
enough, as Wednesday’s U.N. statement is proving; the time has come
has come for military intervention in the form of peacekeeping troops
from the international community.

The African Union has vowed to send in 4,000 troops replacing the
paltry 300 troops currently protecting the 150 monitors now stationed
in Darfur. All member countries that have signed the Declaration of
Human Rights cannot deny a full-fledged genocide is occurring and are
obligated to follow suit by sending troops and/or humanitarian aid.
While the United States is admittedly the largest member of human
rights recognizing organizations, this cannot be a unilateral
intervention. Politics must be put aside for the sake of humanity.
Whoever is decided to be the 44th president of the United States Nov.
3 must place Sudan on the top of his foreign policy agenda.

Students can help, too. It’s as easy as simple as joining a
letter-writing campaign through Amnesty International to condemn the
actions of the leaders of Sudan, sending a donation to the Red Cross,
or taking an active commitment to being informed about the promises
made in 1948 which are being broken today. For all the importance we
place on “never forgetting,” it’s more important to never ignore.