On July 14, the World Court brought overdue charges of genocide and war crimes against Omar al Bashir, the president of Sudan. These charges were for his involvement in the ongoing Darfur genocide.
Just so we are all on the same page, here is a bit of background about Darfur. In 2003, the Western area of Sudan was invaded by the Janjaweed military. According to an Associated Press article, the United Nations puts the death toll at more than 300,000. Other sources estimate that 2.5 million have been displaced and are now staying at refugee camps in the neighboring country of Chad.
Bashir did not take kindly to the World Court’s charges. He has recently stated that the “genocide charges leveled against him are part of a global campaign to topple his government, divide the country and steal its oil resources.”
Does he honestly thinks the rest of the world will believe this? Last time I watched the news, the only campaign that mentioned Sudan was the campaign of genocide, which its government is currently backing.
Bashir also singled out the United States because of our government’s policies with the Middle East. He says that our foreign policy is more concerned with Israel’s safety than it is with any Arab nations’.
If he thinks he can get off by blaming U.S. foreign policy, he might have to answer to the World Court. … Oh wait, they already called him out.
Bashir then stated that he believed the world was simply putting Sudan’s 2009 elections at risk. According to Bashir, these elections would be the freest, fairest and most legitimate elections Sudan has had in decades.
Legitimate? I know it should go without saying, but legitimate governments don’t fund genocides.
Sadly, despite all of the attention that this tragedy is getting, world leaders still haven’t made the connection that this is an emergency. The U.N. promised peace-keeping forces and other necessary military equipment in July of 2007, yet none of those things have showed up in Darfur.
The most horrific thing, though, is that world leaders still have not learned this lesson: Genocides can be contained, even prevented if acted upon early enough. The Holocaust, Rwanda and Bosnia are perfect examples of this lesson.
I am amazed and pleased that none of this deters the activists committed to this cause. I feel that even though our government sometimes pretends to be deaf to this cause, if we stand on a mountaintop long enough screaming through our bullhorn, we just might be heard.
As for those in the middle of this tragedy, our promises to them must just be empty words by now.
Thankfully, even if world governments won’t take action, you and I always can. There are various grassroots organizations — a good one is http://savedarfur.org — dedicated to resolving the Darfur crisis. Make sure to visit their Web sites for more information on how to get involved and do what our leaders cannot — make a difference.
Aside from being an ASU student, Andrew is also The Godfather of Justice. He can receive justice pleas at andrew.hedlund@asu.edu
