End the horror in Sudan

The region of Darfur in western Sudan has been in chaos for over a year, but only recently have world leaders publicly denounced it. U.S. officials and human rights groups accuse the Janjaweed, a militia of Arab nomads, of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, often in cooperation and with the aid of Sudanese authorities. The Janjaweed are pillaging, raiding, murdering and raping. It is a crisis which desperately needs attention. \nAs always, a crisis like this is not without its share of strong words. The African Union is demanding that the Sudanese government arrest and prosecute Arab militiamen accused of committing violence in western Sudan. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the first secretary of state to visit Sudan since 1978, and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan visited the region last week with calls of disarming the militia. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., upon returning from a three-day congressional visit to the region, said, "I believe that clearly the seeds of genocide have been sown in Darfur." President Bush has not been reluctant to refer to the acts in Sudan as "atrocities."\nBut words alone will not give assistance in the form of food, water and shelter to the over 100,000 refugees that have fled to the neighboring country of Chad. Words alone will not put them back in their homes. Words alone will not give peace to the women who have been raped and words alone will not return life to the thousands that have died.\n Words alone also consume time better spent. U.S. and international officials are debating whether what is happening in western Sudan should be characterized as "ethnic cleansing" or "genocide." Their debate only absorb time that could be used toward giving assistance and aid to the refugees and punishing the Janjaweed and any authorities who aided them.\n We refuse to play the semantic game when it comes to Sudan. No matter what you call it, it is indisputably a humanitarian crisis which deserves urgent and tough attention. It is a firm stance that is needed, not irresponsible legal wrangling or a debate on the merits of a definition. It is voluntarily, cooperative action that is needed, not pausing and waiting from the international sidelines.\nThe Sudanese government denies that it collaborates with the Janjaweed and claims the Janjaweed acts independently. If that is so, and the Sudanese government maintains it is unable to rein in the violence, then the most responsible thing to do in the interests of its citizens is seek international assistance in combatting the Janjaweed and protecting the people of Darfur.\nIn 1994 the U.S. dropped the ball on the African country of Rwanda. Caught up in legal terminology and slow to address the growing threat, roughly 800,000 Rwandans were killed in a 100-day genocidal slaughter organized by the extremist Hutu government then in power. \nOur country has repeatedly vowed that "never again" would something like this happen if we could prevent it. It's now become increasingly clear that if we don't address Sudan, "never again" could easily become just another "again." \nThe IDS Editorial Board voted 10--0 on this issue, with one abstention.