The UN human rights council is less than a year old.
It was created to replace the widely discredited human rights commission and action on Darfur is regarded as a key test of the council’s credibility.
Up to now the council has censured only one country – Israel – for its actions in Lebanon and Gaza, prompting critics to say the new body is just as politicised and ineffective as the old one.
At least 200,000 people are estimated to have died in Darfur’s four-year conflict, with millions more displaced. [NB: this is a non-Lancetized estimate]
It stated that if a state was failing to protect its own citizens, “then the international community has to step up to the plate and assume its responsibilities,” [Head of the mission and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jody] Williams told BBC News.
So far, the international response had been “pathetic”, she said.
“There are so many hollow threats towards Khartoum, that if I were Khartoum I wouldn’t pay any attention either,” she said.
“It is more than a tragedy. It was after Rwanda that people said ‘never again’, and here we are again… and the world sits by.”
The full report is available as a PDF through the link.
Well, just on the off chance that I didn’t feel like posting a comment today… I guess we’ll always have Darfur.
The number of fatalities I’ve heard runs to a bit more than twice that number. Always difficult to tell, but the numbers in Darfur are spectacularly high.
The trick to it all is one you have insinuated – and that’s that the government in Khartoum has figured out the number of people they can kill per month without setting off any alarms. They did it in the south for 20 years, and racked up about 2 million or so. They’re just replaying the scenario in the west.
If you want the very, very, very short version, these guys are doing for network-centric, fourth-generation genocide what the Soviets and Nazis did for industrialized genocide.
True, BRD, but don’t you think it’s more . . . sporting to run them down with Rat Patrol Jeeps than ship them off in boxcars?
May a few screenings of this old movie would help, for those countries that still possess a shred or two of the Western heritage.
Wait, wasn’t it earlier than that? Somewhere in Southeast Asia? Or maybe in Europe? Right? I know it was somewhere I went on vacation, saw it on a postcard. “Come see wherever, blah, blah never agfain.” Swear to god I did.
LMC,
I think the phrase you’re trying to remember is:
I’m pretty sure that’s what I heard.
More seriously, one of the most persistent assertions I’ve heard from the aid community is that use of force could potentially cause the Janjaweed to interfere with aid operations.
Which sounds suspiciously to me like “Well, I know he beats me and I should leave him, but I’m staying for the children.”
Mmm.. breakfast.. coffee.. codependency..
BRD
But you don’t understand. They will do something. Something fearsome.
They will assemble in the streets and march. They will shout Slogans and sing Songs. They will chant Mantras. They will make and carry Signs and Sigils. In really extreme cases, after long deliberation they will produce Effigies and ritually destroy and/or appeal to them.
Then, having exerted their powers for Good in the only way which is both effectual and ethical, they will retire to their homes and rail against xtianists and their irrational beliefs.
Regards,
Ric
And they will cause academic institutions to divest from all those holdings in Sudan-based companies.
Bu-But, it’s against my Religion to interfere with their culture. Their salvation must come from within – the dirty bastards.
Didn’t Mona already determine that BRD and his ilk (that means you, Collins!) are not only unworthy of debate but potential parasites that must be eradicated, a task to which she has dedicated her life (that means you too, ric lockstep!)
*sigh*
If only the UN could summon the righteous, stomping, crushing passion of Mona…
Ooooo, pigs with wings!
I suppose I should feel honored . . . once I stop laughing.
It’s a freaking consensus by now, I’m sure.
I wonder if mona will have a “prayer” meeting on the the eradication of evil warmongers like BRD and the Joooo. Perhaps there will be a Peace “revival” in which clapping and chanting will buttress the ideals of “sanity” over “imperialism.”
All the while the muse of Intentionalism weeps bitter tears…
They’re just getting back in practice with their “never agains” for when Iran unleashes its promised ”Holocaust Part 2: Fry da Jews!” They won’t mean it then either, but they’ll sound really, really sincere.
Hey, don’t look at me, man! I was all for bombing Khartoum into mud-brick rubble three years ago.
And yeah, I AM still pissed about Kitchener.
You know, this reminds me of something a guy – an Old Grey Beard – in Strategic Studies once pointed out to me.
People assume that if you pay attention to this sort of thing, that you must lust for it to happen.
But that’s like saying that oncologists are all big fans of cancer. They’re not, and furthermore, you can’t do anything to tackle cancer unless you study it.
I guess what Mona, et al, are doing is kind of the equivalent of faith healing.
BRD
I thought the working title was: Holocaust 2: Electrified Jewgaloo
(pause for moment of self-loathing)
Well, people like you and me don’t get to be healed, BRD. It’s our inherent evilness rather than lack of faith.
Perhaps they’ll form a review panal and call it The Progressquisition! Decaf double latte poured through a funnel while being forced to watch Commander in Chief over and over and…
You’ve named their fear – thinking – so they hate you.
I should add, there will now be a redoubling of effort.
There will be Condemnations. There will be Notes (sternly worded ones!). There will be Diplomatic Initiatives. There will be appearances on teevee (for a modest stipend; fee schedule attached) deploring the Evil, and begging for Support—send your money to the address on your screen; Vileness must be Combatted.
And upon the instant that anyone with the means and will to do so attempts to stand between the killers and their victims, there will be a brief hushed pause and intake of breath, followed by a simultaneous shout from all quarters:
VI-O-LENCE! IMPERIALIST NEOCOLONIALIST INTERVENTIONIST VIOLENCE! THE HORROR! THE HORROR!
And the victims in Darfur, the dead, the dying, the tortured, raped, and mutilated—will never again be seen or heard of. There will be Marches, in redoubled strength, with Signs and Effigies and Slogans, all denouncing the horripilatingly violent interventionalism. There will be Condemnations of the intervenors, and Resolutions denouncing the Evil. There will be teevee appearances (for a slightly-less-modest stipend; fee schedule attached, and the limousine must be a hybrid) in which a suitably-bandaged janjaweed appears and the presenter, in suitably hushed tones, deplores the Horrid Torture the Noble Innocent has suffered.
So no thanks, folks. Awf’ly kind of you to invite, generous of you to think of us, but we simply can’t participate—prior commitments, y’know: Iraqis to torture, salutes to practice, and the amount of work needed to keep the brown shirts spiffy is just awful. And our hair—well, I’m sure you understand. Carry on without us. You’re doing so well, after all.
Regards,
Ric
They are going to take care of Darfur just as soon as they get done Freeing Tibet.
First things first, you know.
More seriously, one of the most persistent assertions I’ve heard from the aid community is that use of force could potentially cause the Janjaweed to interfere with aid operations.
You may remember that they said the same thing about the Taliban.
The Taliban, who were extorting money from aid agencies to let the aid through.
Aid that—along with aid agencies—might not be needed if the Taliban weren’t there to immiserate the population.
Kinda neat how that works out, eh?
mojo – it was Gordon who died at Khartoum.
Kitchener avenged him at Omdurman. Churchill killed some dervishes and wrote about it.
From what I recall reading, private military contractors like Blackwater USA have said that they would be most willing to go into Darfur and start sorting things out.
So why don’t the goo-goos (hat tip to Mike Royko) start redirecting some of their MoveOn.org contributions to the hiring of firms of this nature?
I know it’s way, way too much to expect this crowd to actually put their butts on the line, like the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. Being chickenhumanitarians and all.
The Mona Incident was depressing even for a convicted cynic of my own humble standing.
As a formerly interested party, I feel a responsibility (in the national sense) for the current situation in Sudan.
There are so many interrelated factors that it is difficult to ascribe the blame to any precise action or inaction: On the face of it, Sudan was the jewel in the crown of the British colonial structure.
Only those who obtained the highest marks in the Colonial Service exams had any chance of being selected for Sudan. They were the best our system could produce, and it was generally felt that they did a very good administrative job in a territory which had plenty of social and religious problems as well as racial and tribal ones.
Within 40 years the whole carefully constructed set of accommodations and compromises has been shattered and now we are faced with unrepentant govenmental involvement in genocide.
My point is that it is futile to expect the United Nations or the African Union to do anything about this, or to be successful should they bother to try.
The only country currently capable of stopping the slaughter is the USA.
Which brings me to my question:
Having devoted a substantial part of your foreign policy from 1914 to 1956 in ensuring the financial emasculation and political destruction of the British Empire, do you feel that the duty of preserving peace and a degree of moral probity falls onto the shoulders of the United States?