(Excerpt from an interview on Democracy Now! with Dr. Gino Strada, general surgeon and founder of the nonprofit humanitarian organization, Emergency, dedicated to providing assistance to civilian victims of war.)
Amy Goodman: When you come to this country, you see very little coverage
of areas, countries like Sudan. What are your thoughts about that?
Dr. Gino Strada: Well, my thought is always the same, that it looks like
media are not very much interested in human tragedies. They’re only
interested when there are plans. All of this business of genocide in Sudan,
for instance, I think has come up as an idea to sort of pave the ground
for a possible military intervention… A country comes to the light
of the media when there are some political agenda from very powerful
nations behind them.
Photo courtesy of Human Rights Watch
The future of Darfur lies in the hands of the international community. The African Union has already committed a number of troops, but they are far too few and too powerless to be effectual. The United Nations has recommended that those guilty of war crimes be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. However, without the United States on board, they lack the ability, and the US strongly opposes the ICC.
In an article published in The London Observer, Alex de Waal, director of Justice Africa, points out the importance of a ceasefire in Darfur:
“There
is no quick fix in Darfur. But after the first round of mediation by
the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a week ago, the elements of a settlement
are coming into focus. The first of these is removing obstacles
to relief operations. The second is enforcing the ceasefire, agreed by the
parties in the Chadian capital of Ndjamena in April, but flouted - far more
egregiously by the government and Janjaweed. For hungry villagers, the
ceasefire is a survival issue, as their skill at harvesting wild foods has
no value if they are confined to camps by fear of rape, mutilation or
murder…” (de Waal, Alex. “Dafur: No Easy Solutions.” The
Observer. 25 July 2004)
De Waal is right to draw attention to the refugees. They should be given first priority. The United Nations should place troops on the ground, and give them enough authority to make a difference, unlike in Rwanda, where troops were not authorized to stop the violence unless they themselves were fired upon.
The next
step needs to address the root of the problem. The cause of the struggle
the Darfur is lack of representation in Khartoum. Darfurians feel neglected
by the government. They lack the resources necessary for survival,
and the government has done nothing to help them over the past twenty
years. Perhaps a solution would be for a leading member of the SLM/
A to take a role in the legislative process. At any rate, extensive
talks between the rebel leaders and Bashir’s administration need
to be held as soon as possible.