Violence in Darfur Spreads

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times is one of my favorite columnists. He is one of their "Premium" columnists behind their firewall, which I know many refuse to pay for. But for columnists like Kristof, Krugman, and Rich, I'm willing to pay. In his Sunday column, Kristof returns to the subject of violence in the Darfur region of Sudan, which is now spilling over into Chad.

Kristof had invited Bill O'Reilly to join him on a trip to Darfur, and even received over $700,000 in pledges from readers to sponsor O'Reilly's trip (a round trip - I imagine the pledges might have been even more to leave O'Reilly there).

   

Bill O'Reilly refused to join me on this trip, passing up the $727,000 that my readers had pledged to sponsor his trip to Darfur. But Ann Curry of the "Today" show and a top-notch NBC crew did travel with me on this trip. Unlike Bill, Ann didn't flinch at traveling in janjaweed-infested areas or at staying in a primitive $4-a-night "hotel" with no plumbing. (O.K., she did shudder just a little at the wildlife in the hotel's outhouse.) If you want to break your heart, watch her reports beginning tomorrow -- and ABC and CBS, where are you?

This trip took Kristof and Curry to Koloy, Chad.

   

Politely but insistently, the people in this town explained that they were about to be massacred.

   

President Bush is showing signs that he may be ready to stand up to the thugs in Sudan, but China is protecting Sudan, Europe is inert, and the African Union can't even muster the courage to call for immediate U.N. peacekeepers. So the people here are probably right to resign themselves to be slaughtered -- if not sooner, then later.

   

This entire area gets no visits from diplomats and no help from the U.N. or aid groups, because it is too risky. Only one organization, Doctors Without Borders, sticks it out, sending in a convoy of intrepid doctors three days a week to pull bullets out of victims.

   

The people of Koloy are still waiting to be massacred. Think for a moment what it would be like to huddle with your family every day, paralyzed by fear, waiting for the end.

And then remember that all this can be stopped. You can go to www.millionvoicesfordarfur.org and send a postcard to President Bush, encouraging him to do more. At www.genocideintervention.net, you can find a list of "10 things you can do right now."

Maybe it seems that you have no real power to change anything in Koloy, but, frankly, right now you're the only hope that the people in Koloy have.

There are many things happening in the world around us that make us feel powerless, and stories like those that trickle out of Darfur can top the list. At times it seems like Kristof's is a lonely voice in a dark and hostile wilderness. But I have read his work and I have seen people respond to his calls for action. Sometimes it is a collection of thousands of little actions that are necessary to make the difference.

Diary entry copied from my blog at http://www.quixoticperspectives.com/...
 

•  We only do war for empire

  Clinton did nothing when genocide was going on in Rwanda. What makes you think this government would do anything to end suffering anywhere? We would go in if they had strategic oil reserves... or other geopolitical interest. It is heartbreaking, but that is the way it goes. Let's hope the UN does a better job than in Rwanda. They are the only hope. The Europeans and the rest of the world should realize that we will do nothing about it. The UN is their only hope.

  by GUGA on Sun Mar 12, 2006 at 06:42:03 AM PDT

  •  Europe's a bit overstretched

    - in Afghanistan; the US is tied up you know where. The best try is probably more African troops under UN flag, with funding from the West and an extended mandate. But Darfur is the size of France and has few passable roads, so the task is daunting anyhow. The risk of getting bogged down is huge.

    Rwanda was actually simple compared to this, since it was a centrally controlled, "conventional" genocide that took place within a time frame of three months. Even so, it's extremely frustrating that so little is being done.

    by Sirocco on Sun Mar 12, 2006 at 07:09:40 AM PDT

  •  "if they had strategic oil reserves"

    ...they do. That is one of the problems.

    There is considerable information available on this fact via a quick google.

    by luckydog on Sun Mar 12, 2006 at 08:04:10 AM PDT