Lest We Forget... (REPOST)

With our preoccupation with the War in Iraq and domestic issues (deficits, immigration, DHS ineptitude etc.) some important issues often get left under the radar. One of these stories is the genocide in Darfur. The situation in Darfur is as dire as ever and has great potential to spiral even further out of control. As the International Crisis Group reported a couple of weeks ago,

The international strategy for dealing with the Darfur crisis primarily through the small (7,000 troops) African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) is at a dead end. AMIS credibility is at an all-time low, with the ceasefire it could never monitor properly in tatters. In the face of this, the international community is backing away from meaningful action. The African Union (AU) yielded to Khartoum's pressure on 10 March 2006 and did not ask the UN to put into Darfur the stronger international force that is needed. [...]

The battlefield now extends into eastern Chad, and the escalating proxy war between Sudan and Chad threatens to produce a new humanitarian catastrophe on both sides of the border. Inside Darfur humanitarian access is at its lowest in two years, civilians continue to bear the brunt of the violence, and political talks are stalled. Fighting is most intense and civilians are at greatest risk in West Darfur along the Chad-Sudan border, where a major invasion by Chadian rebels appears imminent, and in southern Darfur in the Tawila-Graida corridor.

The Sudanese government bears primary responsibility for the deteriorating situation. It is still making little effort to stabilise matters, rein in militias or secure roads from bandits and rogue elements. In violation of numerous commitments, it still uses offensive air power, supports militias and stokes inter-communal violence as part of its counter-insurgency campaign.

And now, the New York Times reports the following:

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 3 - The government of Sudan has blocked Jan Egeland, the United Nations' top emergency aid official, from visiting the western Darfur region this week, prompting Mr. Egeland to accuse Khartoum of trying to hide the dire conditions there.

The Sudanese government offered various explanations for its decision not to allow Mr. Egeland, the under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, to visit Khartoum, the capital, or Darfur beginning Monday.

Jamal Ibrahim, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the visit was merely postponed because it would have coincided with the Prophet Muhammad's birthday. He also said in an interview with the BBC that it would have been unsafe for Mr. Egeland, a Norwegian, to visit Sudan given the recent controversy over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper.

But the United Nations said that the trip had been planned in advance and that the decision by Sudanese authorities not to approve his flight appeared to be politically motivated.

"They said I'm not welcome," Mr. Egeland said in a telephone interview from Rumbek, in southern Sudan, which operates semi-autonomously and did approve the visit. "My interpretation is that they don't want me to see what I was planning to witness in south and west Darfur, which is renewed attacks on the civilian population."

The BBC adds,

The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Sudan says Mr Egeland is known for his willingness to speak his mind and has been a strong critic of the government's role in Darfur's violence.

Mr Egeland said the rebel Sudan Liberation Army also had some responsibility for provoking the latest attacks in the Janana area.

He said the Sudanese government, guerrilla forces and ethnic militia groups were all responsible for the current instability in Darfur, which had put tens of thousands of civilians at risk.

He was due to meet aid workers and speak to people displaced by the conflict.

Mr Egeland also warned that hopes for peace in the south of the country were being damaged by continuing violence.

A peace deal last year officially ended 21 years of conflict between the northern Muslim government and rebels from the Christian and animist south.

This news is disturbing to say the least. What's also disturbing is that thihorrificic situation will continue to remain virtually uncovered by the media. Our government will undoubtedly continue to drag its feet on this issue. Three years is far too long to remain complacent while a genocide occurs.

Try not to chuckle the next time you hear a government official say "we'll never let this happen again."

For more, go here, here, or here.

Note: I reposted this because I feel it may have been overshadowed by the news of the day (Delay especially)