Posted on: Friday, November 19, 2004

EDITORIAL
The world fiddles while Darfur burns

The halting response to genocide in the western region of Sudan known as Darfur is frustrating to those who vowed that Rwanda would be the last time the international community would tolerate slaughter on a massive scale.

Few would argue that the killing in Darfur amounts to anything less than genocide. Hundreds of thousands of black villagers have been killed or displaced by Arab militias with the aid of Sudan's government in Khartoum.

But official declaration of genocide activates some specific responsibilities for the United States, other governments and the United Nations that few are eager to embrace.

The White House seems reluctant to get involved in the Sudan, and the United Nations seems not quite focused.

You might have thought that the unusual meeting this week of the U.N. Security Council in Nairobi, Kenya, for instance, would be a hopeful sign.

Not exactly.

The meeting's purpose is to promote settlement of a 21-year civil war between the Khartoum government and southern rebels. It is thought that a permanent end to the civil war might be helpful for Darfur, to the west, but only tangentially.

Ending the civil war is a worthy objective, but the genocide is in Darfur.

Another difficulty is the mixed signals coming from the Bush administration. Washington is understandably distracted, and the U.S. military overextended, by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That's why other nations, led by the United Nations, must overcome their reluctance. The Security Council earlier passed two resolutions threatening sanctions on Sudan's government if it fails to disarm the militias in Darfur.

But aid agencies and human rights groups say the resolutions have had no effect on calming the violence. Amnesty International this week warned that uncontrolled arms exports were fueling abuses in Darfur.

The mass killings continue, and more than 1.5 million people have been displaced. The world must act.