(Khartoum, Sudan) The situation in Sudan’s western Darfur region is deteriorating with more frequent and widespread violence, according to officials with the African Union.

“You may have thought the terrible situation in Darfur couldn’t get worse, but it has,” said the Africa director of Human Rights Watch, Peter Takirambudd. “Sudan’s policy of arming militias and letting them loose is spilling over the border, and civilians have no protection from their attacks, in Darfur or in Chad.”

Two million people have been displaced - and up to one-half million have died - in the three-year war in Darfur, in which militia groups like the Janjaweed have targeted civilians for miltary attacks.

The African Union has deployed approximately 7,000 troops in Darfur - which is a region about the size of France - but the organization can no longer afford to pay for the forces much longer.

Border clashes have occurred between militias on the Chad-Sudan borders, and the hostilities threaten to turn an internal civil war into a regionsl conflict.

The United States is calling for the UN to take charge of the AU peacekeeping troops in Darfur. The UN Security Council gave preliminary approval for this to occur in February.

“It’s a complicated and operationally, logistically difficult mission,” said UN ambassador John Bolton, who added that the US will not be sending combat troops.

Meanwhile, the genocide continues, and the best-case scenarios call for UN troops to arrive in Darfur no sooner than 2007. Even this timetable may not be fast enough, though.

“The looming threat of complete lawlessness and anarchy draws near,” UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said of the conflict.

At what level of violence and genocide will people of conscience begin to pay more than lip service to human rights? The destruction of Darfur has been in the mainstream news for at least two years, and yet little has been accomplished in that time.

The refugees and victims of the Janjaweed campaign of extermination deserve better than this.

Michael Brooks is a Clamor contributor, historian, and literary roustabout who currently resides in the Midwest.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 6th, 2006 at 3:06 pm by Michael Brooks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.