Dithering as Others Die
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, The New York Times
A LONG THE SUDAN-CHAD BORDER, June 26, 2004 — The ongoing genocide in Darfur is finally, fortunately, making us uncomfortable. At this rate, with only 250,000 more deaths it will achieve the gravitas of the Laci Peterson case.
Hats off to Colin Powell and Kofi Annan, who are both traveling in the next few days to Darfur. But the world has dithered for months already. Unless those trips signal a new resolve, many of the Darfur children I’ve been writing about over the last few months will have survived the Janjaweed militia only to die now of hunger or diarrhea.
I’ve had e-mail from readers who are horrified by the slaughter, but who also feel that Africa is always a mess and that there’s not much we can do. So let me address the cynics.
Look, I’m sure it’s terrible in Darfur. But lots of places are horrific, and we can’t help everyone. Why obsess about Sudan?
The U.N. describes Darfur as the No. 1 humanitarian crisis in the world today. The U.S. Agency for International Development estimates that at best 320,000 more people will still die of hunger and disease this year – or significantly more if we continue to do nothing.
Moreover, apart from our obligation to act under the Genocide Convention, acquiescence only encourages more genocide – hence the question attributed to Hitler, “Who today remembers the Armenian extermination?”
Haven’t we invaded enough Muslim countries?
The U.S. is not going to invade Sudan. That’s not a plausible option.
But we can pass a tough U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing troops, as well as more support for African peacekeepers. If Germany, France and Spain don’t want to send troops to Iraq, then let them deploy in Darfur. And we must publicly condemn the genocide.
What good is a speech in the U.N.? Why would Sudan listen?
Governments tend to be embarrassed about exterminating minorities. In Sudan, a bit of publicity about Darfur coupled with a written statement from President Bush led Sudan to agree to a cease-fire in April and to improve access for aid agencies. More publicity prompted it to promise to disband the Janjaweed raiders.
Sudan lies and wriggles out of its promises, but its genocide is still calibrated to the international reaction. Likewise, it is still denying visas and blocking supplies for emergency relief, but pressure has led it to improve access.
So, Mr. Bush, if a single written statement will do so much good, why won’t you let the word “Darfur” pass your lips? Why the passivity in the face of evil? You could save tens of thousands of lives by making a forceful speech about Darfur. Conversely, your refusal to do so is costing tens of thousands of lives.
If the Sudanese were notorious pirates of American videotapes, if they were sheltering Mullah Omar, you’d be all over them. So why not stand up just as forcefully to genocide?
Mr. Bush seems proud of his “moral clarity,” his willingness to recognize evil and bluntly describe it as such. Well, Darfur reeks of evil, and we are allowing it to continue.
What can ordinary Americans do?
Yell! Mr. Bush and John Kerry have been passive about Darfur because voters are. If citizens contact the White House or their elected representatives and demand action, our leaders will be happy to follow.
Readers can also contribute to one of the many aid agencies saving lives in Darfur. (I’ve listed some at www.nytimes.com/kristofresponds, Posting 489.)
Be realistic. We don’t have our national interest at stake in Darfur.
But we do. Sudan’s chaos is destabilizing surrounding countries, especially Chad, which is an increasing source of oil for us. Moreover, when states collapse into chaos, they become staging grounds for terrorism and for diseases like ebola and polio (both have broken out recently in Sudan).
In any case, America is a nation that has values as well as interests. We betrayed those values when we ignored past genocides, and we are betraying them again now.
In my last three columns, I wrote about Magboula Muhammad Khattar, a 24-year-old woman struggling to keep her children alive since her parents and husband were killed by the Janjaweed. Each time I visited the tree she lives under, she shared with me the only things she had to offer: a smile and a bowl of brackish water.
Is a cold shoulder all we have to offer in return?