The list of excuses are flabbergasting. The UN tried to act, but the US refused to help, saying that the African Union should do it. While Africa should certainly police itself, the US, along with everyone else in power in the West, knew it didn't have the resources or the know-how. The African Union was simply an excuse to allow the US to ignore the problem. The programme interview one of only a handful of Western observers, an American sounding captain, describes how they had four vehicles and one helicopter to cover an area the size of France. The militia, which worked in hundreds and had heavily armed, meant there was nothing the observers could do. The observer describes how the Sudanese military, be they army or 'rebels' used helicopter gunships equipped with fletchettes which are designed purely to kill people -- in this case, defenseless peasants and refugees.
The same captain describes how he arrived just before the Sudanese attacked a village of 20,000, was introduced to the people and was applauded by all because they thought his presence meant they were saved 'by the Americans'. But he was one man, and could only watch as the village was burnt to the ground.
Just before the election last year, Bush was forced to use the word 'genocide', and despite Powell's pushing, the US government's rhetoric didn't mean any new action at all. (The programme doesn't make the claim directly, but the suggestion is that Powell's visit to Sudan and his initial use of the word 'genocide' was not inline with what the rest of the Bush administration wanted to say, but there again, Powell was always far too honest for his own political good.) A no-fly zone to keep out the helicopter gun ships designed purely to kill peasants was rejected. And, according to the BBC programme, the Chinese, which takes oil from the area, refused to even consider any form or embargo because it would hurt their economy. The Chinese foreign minister said, "Business is business" -- and the deaths of these African foreigners is clearly "less important".
The report, made and presented by Fergal Keane, would probably be condemned by the usual political motivations. The pictures of the police beating refugees and forcing movement from one camp to another, the camps being bulldozed. The UN aid workers and AU observers were there, filmed it, and could do nothing.
Once again it shows just what morons the politicians and businessmen of the West -- and other powerful nations -- truly are. I don't believe in the anti-globalization movement, but when we ignore genocide, how can it be supported? Even Keane fudges it at the end:
It's not that the world didn't care about Darfur, it's that it didn't care enough.
But Kofi Annan puts him right as he replied:
It shows we've learned nothing from Rwanda.
