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400,000 dead in Sudan. Anyone interested?

In yesterday's New York Times Nicholas D Kristoff wrote* about the estimated 400,000 deaths in the Darfur region of Sudan. He castigated George W Bush for failing to act decisively against this genocide.

But, given the course of Britain's Election campaign, is it hardly any wonder that politicians are reluctant to act in Sudan.

400,000 deaths in Sudan have hardly featured in Britain's General Election.

This Election has shown that Britain is an increasingly "decadent" nation. According to Microsoft Word’s dictionary, “decadent” is defined as “uninhibitedly self-indulgent behaviour”. It seems that a huge proportion of the British public is no longer willing to make sacrifices for our own defence or for humanitarian purposes.

No-one could be unmoved by the death of Anthony Wakefield earlier this week in Iraq. The death of a young and handsome soldier, leaving behind a now inconsolable wife and seven-year-old son, tugged every heart string. But it should not have fed the anti-war movement. Coldstream Guard Anthony was serving his country. He knew what he was doing when he joined the army and he died to liberate 25 million people from a dictator who has a record of supporting terrorists. We honour him by finishing the mission he gave his life to. We should not surrender before the suicidal and hate-filled insurgents.

It is difficult to see any British government - reflecting on the public's reaction to the Iraq war - undertaking any bold military action in the forseeable future. Toppling Saddam sent a powerful warning to terrorist-supporting states. The advance of appeasement parties like the LibDems has gutted that warning.

Oceans of ink are poured into covering the Attorney General's legal advice but next to nothing on what is going on in Sudan or Africa's other killing fields.

Kristoff quotes JFK in his article - "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality." May God forgive us.

04 May 2005 in World | Permalink

Comments

Nicholas D Kristof has updated his Sudan crusade with http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/31/opinion/31kristof.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists>this article and the story of Magboula:

"She lived with her husband and five children in the countryside, but then as the Arab janjaweed began to slaughter black African tribes like her own, she and her family fled to the safety of a larger town. In December, the Sudanese Army attacked that town, and they ran off to the bush. Two months ago, the janjaweed militia caught up with them.

First the raiders shot her husband dead, she said, her voice choking, and then they whipped her, taunted her with racial insults against black people and mocked her by asking why her husband was not there to help her. Then eight of them gang-raped her...

After the attack, Magboula was determined to save her children. So they traipsed together on a journey across the desert to the Kalma Camp, where a small number of foreign aid workers are struggling heroically to assist 110,000 victims of the upheaval. Magboula carried her 6-month-old baby, Abdul Hani, in her arms, and the others, ranging from 2 to 9, stumbled beside her.

Magboula finally arrived at Kalma a few weeks ago. But the Sudanese government is blocking new arrivals like her from getting registered, which means they can't get food and tents. So Magboula is getting no rations and is living with her children under a straw mat on a few sticks.

Then a few days ago, Abdul Hani, Magboula's baby, died...

The world might also respond if people could see what is going on, but Sudan has barred most reporters from the area. I'm here because I accompanied Kofi Annan on a visit - bless him for coming! - and then jumped ship while here.

Magboula and the 2.2 million other homeless people from Darfur need food and shelter, and President Bush has been good about providing that. But above all they need the international community to shame Sudan for killing and raping people on the basis of their tribe. Each time Sudan has been subjected to strong moral pressure, it has backed off somewhat - but lately the attention has subsided, and Mr. Bush even killed the Senate-passed Darfur Accountability Act, which would have condemned the genocide.

What killed Magboula's husband and child was, indirectly, the world's moral indifference...

When Americans see suffering abroad on their television screens, as they did after the tsunami, they respond. I wish we had the Magboula Channel, showing her daily struggle to forge ahead through humiliation and hunger, struggling above all to keep her remaining children alive. If you multiply Magboula by 2.2 million, you get the reasons why we should care."

Posted by: Editor | 02 June 2005 at 23:41