International community springs into inaction

Yesterday saw thousands of people demonstrate in more than 30 cities worldwide against the genocide occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan, where 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million displaced since a revolt started in 2003. In Central Park alone, 20,000 people came to voice their support for peace and justice in the area. \nThese demonstrations come at a crucial time as representatives from multiple nations, including Britain's foreign minister and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, are gathered in New York for peace talks. The international community's goal for these talks is the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to replace the 7,000 African Union soldiers who are scheduled to leave the country at the end of this month. \nOf course the Sudanese government is opposed to such action and has plainly stated that any troops in the region will be met with armed resistance. \nI say, bring it on. \nThe international community has failed to act in multiple genocides all over the world, most notably that in Rwanda, where 800,000 people were killed in the matter of 100 days in 1994. The international community overacted in the case of Iraq; in the name of protecting freedom and democracy, most of the conventional diplomatic procedures were bypassed without a second thought and the risks overlooked. \nWith such a poor track record and the lessons of the past fresh in our minds, I would think the world would be keen to step in and act appropriately now that it is evident that freedom, democracy and the lives of millions of people are at risk. Beyond the basic moral obligation we have to our fellow man, it would be in the best interest of the international community to curb instability before it spills over into other neighboring nations or the whole region. The Darfur crisis is already starting to spill over into Chad. So the U.N. troops will meet armed resistance? There's a reason they are called "soldiers." \nPoliticians have been throwing in the usual, "This is bad. We must act now," line out to the media for months, but the situation has seen little action. They should realize that the Khartoum government will continue to dismiss claims of genocide as little more than manipulation by the Western media. They need to stop holding pseudo-peace talks in hope that the 137th time they do, the Sudanese government will say "OK, what the heck, let's stop massacring, raping and displacing the Darfurians, and while we're at it, let's invite the United Nations over for tea." \nOne of the most poignant of the demonstrations for justice in Darfur was held in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. Cambodians themselves were victims of a brutal genocide in the 1970s under the regime of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge political party. \nThe international community should take to heart the underlying message of that demonstration: We don't want such a vicious genocide to occur again.