Today's Times has an editorial about inaction in Darfur. It's always nice to see the "agenda setting" press take up the issue, and it's particularly pleasant to see the Times taking not only the West, but also Arab and African leaders to task for ignoring the Darfuris' plight:
Where are the Muslims who took to the streets to protest Danish cartoons? Where are the African leaders who demanded boycotts of South Africa?
...We're waiting. But time is one thing that what is left of the Darfur population doesn't really have. We're glad to see that a rally is planned in Washington on April 30. We're glad to hear that Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick invited Darfur refugees to the State Department. Now President Bush needs to do the same thing. A photo op at the White House with Darfur refugees would go a long way toward embarrassing the government of Sudan.
That should also embarrass the rest of the Security Council members, like China, Qatar, Ghana and Tanzania, that continue to give diplomatic cover to Sudan. Rwanda should have taught us all something; it's tragic that it apparently has not.
3 comments:
Let's cross our fingers here. There's been some convergence at the UN and the situation is becoming more and more urgent. It's time to set aside our regional interests and differences. Let's hope that the AU, UN, and the US will fully cooperate. Yes, we're running out of time.
After careful consideration, do you think that the US should impose a unilateral or bilateral (with the UK) intervention here?
It seems to me that the egregious investments of China and France in Sudan are absolutely stalling the current peace negotiations. China has been filibustering while France seems to be fud-duddering their ambiguity (as in Food for Oil).
Unlike France or China, the US does not have economic interests in Sudan and yet has the resources to immediately intervene. Perhaps it is necessary to pull a Condoleeza Rice at the moment. Time is too precious a commodity right now.
The political games behind all this are too big for us to understand...
Radar
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