To be fair, the President was responding to the plea of the Secretary General of the United Nations who called Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice pleading for more time for diplomacy. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon considers that he has had some success over the past few weeks with the President of Sudan and would not like to anger Bashir at this time. This success is more than a little dubious given the reports this week in the New York Times and other newspapers of Sudanese military planes (carrying arms and heavy military equpiment in to Darfur) being painted white to resemble UN planes. “UN” was even painted in blue on the wings of these barely disguised angels of death. Bashir continues to play the different intenational actors like a harp.
Save Darfur and other activists are understandably angered at this turn of events. John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group said that the President’s speech came up as being “bark with no bite.” Four years into the crisis in Darfur and nearly three since the US called the situation there ‘genocide,’ dithering continues. All of us continue to live with the situation, as horrifying as it is to read about in the papers. Those in Darfur continue to die.
AFJN invites members to write to the President and express the urgency of the situation. Check out the events prepared for Global Days for Darfur, beginning April 23. Include the people of Darfur in your personal prayers and as much as possible in your churches and religious communities. If we’re going to live with this situation, let us at least not live in silence or too much comfort.
Phil Reed