‘Never again’ forgotten: Genocide in Sudan continues, despite pledge

Eugene, USA, Jan 30, 2005 (Register-Guard) – The world rightly focused last week on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, with leaders from the United States and other nations solemnly intoning the Holocaust mantra: “Never again.”
Yet even as ceremonies were conducted at the death camp in Poland, the government in distant Sudan continued its genocide against villagers in the region of Darfur in the shameful absence of decisive international intervention.

Despite Sudan’s recent agreement to a cease-fire, an air force bombardment on Wednesday killed or wounded almost 100 villagers and sent thousands fleeing to distant refugee camps. More than 70,000 have died, and the death toll could exceed a million if the world fails to act.

The United Nations Security Council has been as irresponsible in failing to stop the killing in Sudan as it was more than a decade ago in Rwanda. Its response has consisted of appointing commissions to determine whether the massacres meet the legal definition of genocide and approving limp resolutions threatening to “consider action” if Khartoum fails to disarm Arab militias responsible for much of the killing.

Meanwhile, Darfur is tumbling into chaos. Hundreds of thousands of displaced refugees are cut off from humanitarian assistance, and the militias, with government assistance, continue to raid the few villages that have yet to be destroyed.

If world leaders are serious when they utter the words “Never again,” they must act now by deploying thousands of additional African peacekeepers and authorizing them to take military action. They must impose arms and oil embargoes, as well as sanctions targeting Sudanese leaders and businesses. Finally, they must make certain Sudanese leaders and others face justice for their crimes in an international tribunal.

Six decades have passed since allied soldiers liberated Auschwitz, yet the world has failed time and again to stop genocides. In the 1970s, 1.5 million Cambodians perished at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. In 1994, up to a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in Rwanda as diplomats dithered, as they are dithering now, over the definition of genocide.

History will record whether the world allows the genocide in Sudan to continue – or finally fulfills the promise of “Never again.”