Still Dying in Darfur

Editorial, The New York Times

August 16, 2004 — The death toll in the Darfur region of Sudan mounts steadily, as malnutrition and disease cut an ever-broader swath through the roughly one million displaced African Muslims burned out of their homes and farms and forced into crowded, unsanitary camps. Tens of thousands have already died, and many more are already so sick they will probably also die, even if a belatedly aroused international community manages to pressure the Sudanese government to stop aiding the Janjaweed militias causing this calamity.

Whether the additional deaths are numbered in the thousands or the hundreds of thousands, very much depends on the breadth and effectiveness of that international pressure. Already the added attention drawn to Darfur by the United States, Britain and the United Nations has had some modestly positive effects.

Aid groups report that the Sudanese government has recently eased some of its administrative obstacles to relief operations and has followed through on its promise to send in uniformed police officers from outside the region. (Locally recruited officers have often turned out to be Janjaweed fighters in uniform.) But even as Khartoum has taken these small steps, the U.N. reports that the overall situation remains dangerously precarious.

Much more could be done to feed and treat the displaced if Khartoum fully cooperated with the relief efforts. Providing unrestricted access and security for aid groups could save hundreds of thousands of lives over the next few months. Every government in the world ought to view that as a moral imperative and make clear to Khartoum that denying such access will cost it dearly. Sudanese officials are more likely to grasp this message if other Arab and African governments reinforce it. Until now, too much of the pressure has come from Washington and London, and not enough from Sudan’s neighbors.

Over the longer term, Darfur’s displaced need not just emergency food and medical treatment, but also a security force they can trust enough to return to their homes and start providing for themselves again. That force should come from the African Union, with financial help from the Arab League, the United States and other rich nations. Some African troops are already in Darfur guarding a small contingent of African Union cease-fire monitors. Now is the time for the union to show it is not just a mutual protection group of governments good, bad and indifferent, but a defender of African humanity.