Miami Student

Issue date: 1/30/07 Section: Editorials

Media Credit: Eric Frey

Amid the great debate over United States foreign policy in Iraq, a region of the world ravaged by genocide is being lost in the rhetoric of our political leaders and media elite. The Darfur region of Sudan continues to suffer through a massive genocide without much of a response from the leading countries of the world. After the genocide of Armenia and the Holocaust, the world gave a cry of "never again," yet failed to live up to this responsibility as genocide devastated Rwanda. It is time for the United States and the world to live up to its moral imperative to stop genocide by taking action in Darfur. If students and other citizens expect to see results, it is important that government action be demanded.

With the notable exceptions of the Save Darfur Campaign and the efforts of journalist Nick Clooney - who will be speaking at Miami University Tuesday - our national discourse is ignoring the issue of 500,000 people dead and more than 2.5 million displaced refugees.

Currently, a sparse unit of African Union troops is stationed in Darfur but the AU forces simply do not have the resources and manpower necessary to stabilize Darfur, making action from the U.S. all the more important. The United Nations was able to pass a resolution in August 2006 that would aid the African Union troops already there, but the Security Council has its hands tied, since China refuses to accept any resolution that mandates the presence of a U.N. peacekeeping force. China's greater interest is the oil contracts it has with the Sudan.

If the United Nations refuses to act and legitimize its position to prevent mass murder, then the rest of the world, including the United States, has a humanitarian obligation to end the genocide. But this message appears to be falling on deaf ears in the United States. Politicians, the media and even the American public seem to think because Darfur is not regarded as strategically important to the U.S.'s national security interests, the U.S. should have no involvement.

But, this shortsighted view does not consider the enormous credibility the U.S. would gain if it took a leading role in bringing peace and stability to Darfur. It is indeed in the U.S. interest to create an international norm to actively stop genocide. A world with a successful U.S.-led peace agreement could have positive ramifications for international cooperation in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places of U.S. interest.

If the United States does not want to be viewed as a lumbering behemoth that only cares about its direct interests, then it is imperative for the U.S. to act. Hopefully, Clooney's speech will help mobilize students to join in a serious promise of "not now" and "never again."

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