I only wish there were more who felt passionate enough to rally and stand up for human rights as many before us did. I want to be a true freedom fighter!!! Let our voices be heard in numbers and they will listen.
Sudan is NOT a religious crusade. Christians are in the South, while the government is Islamic. People inhabitting Darfur are Moslims also, but they are African, not Arabic Moslims. Janjaweed militias are Arabs, too, supported by the government, but not Moslims. It has become an attempt to ethnically cleanse Darfur and drive the black population out, Arabize the region. Not religious, but ethnic conflict. Not that that matters, but when we want to debate and find a solution, we need to know the basic facts.
Yes, African Union - Nigeria, Rwanda and one other country- either Ethiopia or Somalia, I forget, are willing to send in 4,000 troops. 300 are already in, mostly as monitors. They need money and logistical support though, otherwise they themselves will be in danger of slaughter. Plus the Sudanese government needs to agree to let the mission in. The fact that Kerry mentioned this in the debates (anyone noticed?) was of immense importance. It is the only option - UN can't go in, because of Russia and China (China gets oil from Sudan, Russia trades weapons, both will veto any intervention in a jiffy).
Powell declaring Sudanese genocide by its right name may seem a good sign, but it is in fact aggravating. U.S. singed the Genocide COnvention with an exception clause- saying that U.S. has no legal obligation to do anything in case of a genocide- unlike any other country that signed. That's why U.S. can proclaim it whatever and doesn't have the legal duty to go in. Which in fact jeopardized the Convention itself, sets a bad and dangerous precedens for the future. Ooops, they did it again. Nobody will speak of the convention and humanitarian intervention in other than sarcastic terms unless the support to the AU comes within weeks. Yes, can't wait for this president to leave the office (I can dream, can't I?)
Dagmarka: Thank you for that information. I am new to the interest,and research of the Sudan issue. Where can I read the entire Genocide Convention. TIME mag must have missed that one.
I too can't wait for this president to leave, but I believe it can happen. I am depending on some of these swing voters to pull Kerry in.
However isn't a treaty a treaty are we not obligated to that. Or are we all deceiving Democracy.I really need to read the G.C. to be fully informed for school.
you can search the UN web page, at
www.un.org, but I am sure you can just google it. Human Rights Watch also has good updates on Sudan:
www.hrw.org
I'm going to post this link around some of the darfur threads. On Point, a show on NPR, spent an hour speaking with a couple of 20-something people who were very pasionate and smart about darfur and sudan and genocide. The interview was interesting and shows that people are still thinking about it. Lots of people are and the world reaction, according to some on the show, to the genocide in darfur is unprecidented.
On Point
