28 Days to Save Darfur

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

From the NY Times Op Ed page, by Kenneth Bacon, a hero of mine, and president of Refugees International:

HOW can the United States best use its monthlong turn as president of the United Nations Security Council, which it assumes tomorrow? It could start by devoting itself to ending the violence in the Darfur region of western Sudan — violence that President Bush has characterized as genocide.

There is precedent for such action. The last time the United States assumed the rotating presidency of the 15-member Security Council, it made a real contribution to peace in the region. John C. Danforth, then the ambassador to the United Nations, brought the entire Security Council to Kenya to pressure the government in Khartoum and the insurgents in the south to end their 21-year civil war. The tactic worked. Shortly afterward, Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement signed a comprehensive peace agreement.

snip

Mr. Bolton, who has called for stronger enforcement of arms embargoes against Sudan, should demand the release of an unpublished United Nations study listing those countries that ship weapons to rebels and Khartoum-backed militias. Then the Council should use this information to punish sanctions scofflaws.

The United States has a vexing and inconsistent record on Sudan. Periods of engagement have been followed by longer, and troubling, periods of inaction. Now, with a month to lead the Security Council, the United States has a chance to show the world that we can do more than just talk about genocide.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/31/opinion/31bacon.html?th&emc=th

[htuttle]

1. Kenneth Bacon is living in a different universe than I am

Bush has no intention of using it's turn as president of the UNSC to solve the probblems in Darfur -- get real. Bush plans on using it to start a war in Iran.

Bacon is suggesting a course of action for the Bush Mob as though they were regular, responsible statesmen. Did he just wake up? The only way the Bush administration will do anything for Darfur is if they are leveraged into it somehow. Some suggestions about how to do that (short of giving them Iran) would be far more helpful.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. You've got to realize the position of RI in the world

they always speak reasonably to all world leaders in trying to get things done. Ken Bacon was one of the few courageous folks who wrote op ed pieces in major papers and told Bush back in 2003 exactly why he shouldn't invade Iraq. Don't recall any other nonprofit based in the US having the courage to say what he said.

[Demeter]

2. Darfur Is Victim of Bad Timing

They shouldn't go to pieces while the US self-destructs and expect to get any attention.