5-04-06, 9:09 am
It was wonderful to behold tens of thousands gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC, to demand an end to the genocide in Darfur, in the western Sudan. The reality of genocide against Muslim Black Africans at the hands of Arabized Muslim Black Africans is a fact: 400,000 thousand have already died and millions have been displaced, many in camps that are even now surrounded by their killers and rapists. The regime in Khartoum is also responsible for the deaths of more than two million people in the southern Sudan.
The political scope of the speakers at the rally was quite impressive: everybody hates genocide, in principle. And it is true, as actor George Clooney’s father told the crowd, that “nothing we can do will help [the victims] if they are dead.” A collective and sustained wail and scream of humanity, and collective action on a massive scale, is required, to halt the mass murder of our sisters and brothers and children.
However, those who would lead this fight against genocide, must also be clear-sighted. The bi-partisan nature of the rally may have caused some to believe that the Bush regime is sincere in its efforts to halt the slaughter in Darfur. Such is not the case, and people must be disabused of that illusion. Bush cares nothing for the lives of Black Africans, or human beings of any color, anywhere on the planet.
No less than China and Russia, the United States is playing a geopolitical game with oil-rich Sudan while the people of Darfur die. The Bush men perceive it to be in their interest to make a loud noise about genocide, while withholding the resources that could bring the daily massacres and rapes and starvations to a halt. Only 7,000 African Union troops are stationed in Darfur, an area as large as Texas. They cannot possibly protect the women and children besieged by the murderous Janjaweed militia and Sudanese military. Africa lacks the logistical resources – the planes and trucks and equipment – to put a real peace-keeping force on the ground. Only the United States – the superpower empire – has such logistical capability. And the United States military and logistical network is already deployed in other countries throughout the region.
The Sahel, that vast belt of savannah, desert and semi-desert that stretches across the face of northern Africa, from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, is infested with American troops and logistical networks. The United States is preparing to open up a new, African command center, ostensibly to deal with terrorist threats in the region. The U.S. military has extensive general-to-general relations with most of the militaries of the countries in the region, ready and willing to supply the needs of cooperative armed forces. That includes the armed forces of Chad, which neighbors Darfur, Sudan.
If it wanted to, the U.S. could provide all the logistic support necessary to place an effective African Union troop presence in Darfur, and to stop the killing. But Bush will not do that, despite repeated pleas for help from the African Union. The Bush regime prefers to pretend it is the good guy, while withholding support to the Africans who could save lives right now, on the ground in Darfur. Forget about diplomatic niceties. The Bush regime cares nothing for international law, and does what it wants. Clearly, it does not want the African Union mission in Darfur to succeed, or for the genocide to end. For Radio BC, I’m Glen Ford.
From The Black Commentator
