Decrying genocide is not enough
By Rick Mercier, The Anniston Star
Dec 7, 2005 — The past 12 months will be remembered for the devastating natural disasters
that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and left millions homeless in
parts of Asia and along our own Gulf Coast. But as International Human
Rights Day approaches, we would do well to remember that governments
sometimes can be as destructive a force as nature.
Consider what has been happening for almost three years in the Darfur region
of Sudan. After an uprising by rebels from some of Darfur’s non-Arab ethnic
groups, the Sudanese government launched a campaign of terror against
civilians in the region.
Security forces and their militia allies (known as the janjaweed) have
murdered, raped and pillaged their way across Darfur, killing tens of
thousands and driving more than 2 million people from their homes. In
addition to those killed with guns and bombs, tens of thousands of displaced
people have perished from disease and starvation. The death toll so far may
be as high as 400,000.
The Bush administration has said that the Sudanese government is guilty of
genocide. The Congress, in a resolution last year, also used the emotionally
laden g-word to describe what’s happening in Darfur. Yet despite the U.S.
government’s unprecedented willingness to declare genocide while the crime
is occurring, the White House and Congress have not demonstrated a sense of
urgency regarding Darfur that matches their rhetoric.
The administration has even cozied up to some of the suspected architects of
the Darfur slaughter ? for instance, Sudan’s intelligence chief ? in the
hopes of gleaning useful information about al-Qaida. (You may remember that
Sudan hosted Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida operatives in the 1990s.)
Congress, meanwhile, can¹t decide whether to put its money where its mouth
is. There¹s an African Union force in Darfur charged with monitoring a shaky
cease-fire. The AU mission is badly underfunded; nevertheless, Congress
recently decided to cut funding to it. Lawmakers in Washington have a chance
to redeem themselves in coming days by restoring that funding in legislation
that’s winding its way through Congress.
The Bush administration has opportunities to improve its record on Darfur,
too. For starters, it can display some moral clarity by refusing to meet
with Sudan’s genocide suspects. It also could start working more diligently
with the AU, the United Nations Security Council and NATO to guarantee that
an effective peacekeeping force is deployed in Darfur.
We mortals may lack the capacity to stop earthquakes, hurricanes and tidal
waves, but genocide is another matter. We’ve gotten pretty good at wringing
our hands and vowing “never again” after genocidal madness descends on some
foreign land. But the ultimate crime against humanity is being committed
again, even as you read this, and the victims of this barbarism are looking
to us to save them.