Rwanda repeated?

Rwanda was supposedly the scar on our conscience that would be the last incident of mass genocide allowed to occur. Apparently however, Rwanda provided only a foreshadowing of things to come. Following the massacre of over one million people, we find yet another similar genocide occurring and we find a similar reaction or lack of action from the world community. Insignificant resolutions in the United Nations deciding to officially label what has occurred in Darfur, Sudan only add injury to insult to the millions of displace Sudanese and the thousands who were stripped of their lives. Although it is already to late, the old saying rings true. “Better late than never”. In this case the former rather than the ladder can result in thousands of lives being saved. We as Americans must live up to our status as leaders of the free world be what we preach. If we can afford over 400 billion dollars to ravage Iraq in the name of democracy, than surely we can save the Sudan from falling into even further peril. First, however we must understand the situation and apply it so save precious lives wasting away as we speak.

The Janjaweed militia hired by the Arab- Sudanese government to quell black rebel groups rising up against this unelected Araba government has reigned terror on millions of innocent people since 2003 to ensure the safety of their political leadership. After unfairly establishing rule over Sudan after Arabs lost land due to desertification just north of the Sudan, the black Sudanese population was robbed of the land it had called home for thousands of years.

Poor treatment and lack of civil rights among the black population escalated in 20003 as rebel groups attempted to take hold of the situation. It was the people caught in the middle of this warfare that were the unfortunate casualties of this battle. Mass rapes ,murders, exile, and the killing of people’s livestock (main form of wealth in the Sudan) would be the primary ways in which the ruling government would seek to drive out the population, eliminating any safe harbor for the rebel groups. Such gruesome actions as dunking dead bodies into water wells to contaminate the water supply rendering it undrinkable for the population define this heartless assault.

Yet very little has been done to stop this genocide. Countries such as China continue to openly do business with oil rich Sudan to fuel it’s disgraceful economic agenda, while the rest of the world community is complacent. Actions like divesting funds from going to the Sudan, freezing government officials’ bank accounts and supporting and increasing the U.N. peacekeeping forces could put an end to this travesty. These actions must be taken only Rwanda will repeat itself, but this time it could be worse.