An estimated 50,000 people have been killed in the Darfur region of the Sudan, and 110,000 refugees have been forced to flee their homes for neighboring Chad.
Arab militias known as the Janjaweed are backed by the Sudanese government in attacking the African tribes living in Darfur.
The Arabs are attempting to forcefully rid the country of the African population, killing them and driving them from their land by destroying their villages.
The militia men are also raping the African women to try to make the next generation more Arab. There is an attempt at genocide being made in Darfur.
The Arabs want to wipe out the entire African population in Sudan, yet little to nothing is being done by the international community to stop this atrocity.
The United Nations has passed resolutions threatening consequences if Sudan does not do something to rectify the horrible situation in Darfur, but there have been no specifications of what those consequences will be.
One resolution passed in August gave the Sudanese government 30 days to do something, but the specified time passed and there were no penalties. If the United Nations does not follow through on their word, the Sudanese government is not going to heed the resolutions.
The United States government has sent monetary aid to the refugees, but if the root of the problem is not addressed in Sudan, this is only prolonging the process of the killing and raping of African tribes.
We are giving the refugees assistance after the destruction has already occurred, which is admirable, but we need to stop the destruction in the first place.
The United States needs to send troops to stop the Arab militia. This is not just a matter of civil war, as Collin Powell stated, this is genocide.
It is our moral obligation to end this horror. It is ridiculous that we can go to war in Iraq and have President Bush bill it as freeing the Iraqi people, but we will not send troops into Sudan.
The African tribes are being murdered and having their homes destroyed; they need freedom more than anyone. If we fail to assist these needy people, we will regret it in the same way we regret overlooking genocide victims in Rwanda during the Clinton administration.
In the first presidential debate on Thursday Sept. 30th, the candidates addressed the issue of the situation in Sudan only briefly. Both candidates stated that they intended to help by working with the African Union. According to The Washington Post, though, the African Union has only 300 troops on the ground in Sudan, which is clearly not enough. John Kerry said that he would send troops to Sudan if absolutely necessary, and President Bush made no mention of ever sending troops, so neither candidate seemed inclined to send the kind of help that the African tribes in the Sudan need now.
The United States government needs to ask itself, regardless of who wins the election in November, if they are willing to let an entire people be wiped out when they have the power to prevent it.
The current administration of “compassionate conservativism” claims to represent morality, yet their morality does not extend to assist a helpless people being exterminated.
We all recognize the Holocaust of the Nazi regime as one of the most horrible occurrences in history. We should not allow a similar incident of genocide to occur now.
The United States needs to use its power for good, and stop the genocide of the African tribes in Sudan.
Emilie Haertsch can be reached at tua05173@temple.edu.
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