In the past four weeks, acts of God―earthquakes, cyclones, floods―have killed many thousands in China and Burma.
In the past four years, acts of man―murders, rapes, other atrocities―have killed more than 200,000 people in the Darfur region of Sudan, and displaced 2.5 million more from their homes.
The first of these tragedies―natural disasters―we cannot prevent. The second―the unnatural, intentional tragedy that is unfolding in Darfur―we can prevent.
So why have we not?
It is not that we don’t know what is happening in Darfur. We do.
It is not that we don’t care. Around the world, people of many faiths and nationalities have been holding rallies, concerts and community meetings that show just how much they care. They’ve been donating millions of dollars, writing books, making films, sending medical supplies.
And it is not that we don’t know what it will take to end the violence. We know it will take a combination of economic, diplomatic, moral and military pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the Arab militias from killing black Africans. Heads of state have promised action. Laws have been passed to punish companies who profit from these atrocities. Negotiations have been conducted; agreements have been reached.
So there has been no shortage of information, concern, or talk about Darfur.
What is lacking is resolve.
We are trying to do this halfway.
We are allocating money―and failing to spend it. We are sending peacekeeping troops from the United Nations and African Union―and failing to give them the basic tools, the armored personnel carriers and the helicopters, to protect the population or themselves. I’ve heard that some peacekeepers even had to buy their own paint to turn their green helmets into the blue helmets of the UN.
We are making promises and not keeping them, raising hopes and not fulfilling them.
Our inaction is a form of complicity.
And yet: hope is not so easily extinguished. The human capacity to hope―even in the face of unspeakable horror―is an amazing thing. I have seen it. When I went to Darfur earlier this year, there was a new energy in the air as the UN―AU peacekeepers started to arrive. The people there felt for the first time that the rest of the world was finally hearing them, was finally stepping in to help them.
This is a start. But the pressure on Khartoum must continue.
China is a big player in Sudan―it is the country’s largest energy partner. Last summer China used its influence to get Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir to accept a strong UN―AU peacekeeping force. But almost a year later he is still putting obstacles in the way of their full deployment. China and the rest of us need to turn up the heat. The UN, the US, Arab countries―all have a role to play.
And that includes Japan. With Japan at the helm of the G8 this year, and as host to the world’s most powerful leaders in July, you are in a unique position to hold Khartoum―and ourselves―to account.
Someday these atrocities will end. Whether we act or not, whether we succeed or not, someday it will end. And when it does questions will be asked of us. And rightly so.
Questions like: Where was the rest of the world? Where was my country―the United States? Where was your country―Japan? Where were we when it mattered?
We cannot expect our halfway measures will make this crisis disappear. If we refuse to make a full commitment to peace, it is the Darfurians that will disappear. An entire generation of people will be gone.