“U.S. must act now to end genocide in Sudan”

In Darfur, we are witnessing a methodical kind of genocide which has claimed between 180,000 and 400,000 Sudanese lives and the displacement of 2 million people since the early 2004. That is the result of systematic elimination campaign launched by the Sudanese regime, whose target are the non-Arab and African tribal groups. At present, genocide continues to increase and the situation has worsen in such a manner that the UN and humanitarian agencies can no longer reach certain areas.
However, there are still reasons for hope. Last week the UN, backed by the United States, accepted to send a peace-keeping force to replace a valiant but ineffective African Union force. We are able to and we must take better action. It is necessary that NATO deploys more troops in that region; Washington must lead operations and establish an exclusion zone to protect the civilians. The US must state its willingness to lead operations there.
In the 1990’s, we were not able to prevent genocide in Rwanda, but we intervened in Bosnia and in Kosovo, two actions that were not popular but necessary. By attacking the people the Sudanese regime has renounced its sovereignty and the fate of the victims is now the responsibility of civilized societies.