What Should Be Done About Genocide in Darfur?
OKE: Good to see you again. You're watching INSIDE AFRICA. This week, the crisis in Darfur was pushed back into the headlines. Actor/activist George Clooney and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel went before the United Nations Security Council. Both men pleaded with the U.N. to act to save the lives of those in the western region of Sudan. Sunday, worldwide demonstrations are planned to draw attention to the plight of those in Sudan's Darfur region. Some 2 million people are waiting in camps for the world to decide what it will do to help them. Joining us to discuss this is Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, who is with SaveDarfur.org, a coalition of 170 groups trying to raise awareness about this issue, and Omer Ismail, the co-founder of the Darfur Peace and Development Organization. He is from Darfur, and recently visited the refugee camps in neighboring Chad. We began by talking about this week's momentum and how to turn it into something practical.</s>OMER ISMAIL, SUDANESE ACTIVIST: We need all the political will of the nations to help the people of Darfur secure areas for the people to come back from the refugee and the displaced camps. And also bring them back to their original places where they were uprooted from earlier. And also to stop the violence against women, against children, against the -- the civilians. And also, bring peace and tranquility to this region that has been volatile, has been under siege, basically. The people of Darfur have been under siege for the last three years. OKE Let me bring Dr. White-Hammond into our conversation. Dr. Hammond, you're organizing -- part of the organizing team for a huge rally happening in Central Park in New York, coming up. What are you hoping to achieve?</s>DR. GLORIA WHITE-HAMMOND, SAVEDARFUR.ORG: Well, as you've heard, this is the rally that's in New York, but there will also be rallies around the world. Certainly one in Abuja, even in Juba in south Sudan, looking to have another rally in London and Paris. And so, we're -- we're looking to demonstrate the international concern. We in America will certainly be a diverse group. We're looking for it to be interfaith. We have a large Jewish, Christian, Muslim contingent. Certainly looking for this to be interracial. And are just delighted at how diverse that is. But all of us coming together to make it clear that we are holding -- in America holding the United States government accountable, but even around the world, holding the international governments accountable to stop this genocide in Darfur, and then bring peace and justice to all of Sudan.</s>OKE: After this rally, after all of this support for the people of Darfur, who is going to be out to do something? If we are still two years on from what Mr. Ismail said was the worst humanitarian crisis, in the words of Kofi Annan, who is going to do something? And why haven't they done it already?</s>ISMAIL: We cannot do it by just asking the United Nations to go in there and bring the troops. The international community and the donor conference that is expected to be in -- in October, in the Hague, is supposed to pledge substantial amounts of money for the reconstruction of Darfur, because there is nothing there. The infrastructure is completely depleted, and before that it was debilitated anyway.</s>WHITE-HAMMOND: As I like to say, there at least three aspects to this genocide. One, of course, is prevention, which would be the most important aspect, but once the genocide happens and we've got to do the intervention, and you're hearing us talk very much about the critical importance at this point of intervening. But then the other aspect really is what I call the reinvention, which in a way serves as a method of prevention. So I very much appreciate Omer's delineating that, that we've got to then think about the rebuilding process. But obviously, we've got a lot of work to do to even get this intervention under way.</s>OKE: Let me return to Omer Ismail. This is your home country, Sudan. Isn't it really the responsibility of the Sudan government? What are you expecting from the United Nations? What can they do if the Sudan government doesn't cooperate?</s>ISMAIL: The United Nations should step up to the plate and say, we demand that the government of Sudan allows these troops into Darfur. This is -- this is not something that the United Nations should beg the government of Sudan to do. The government of Sudan, as a member of the United Nations, should adhere to the resolutions that come out of the United Nations. This is one. Two, I heard some voices in the United Nations Security Council yesterday asking for more dialogue with the government of Sudan. We cannot be there dialoguing with the government of Sudan indefinitely. We have to set a time, and we say by October 1st, by December 31st, whatever the date is, we have to change the helmets of the African Union, because they are going to be part of the international troops who are going to be continuing to do the job that they started doing there. There are so many criticisms there. But the African Union has done something in Darfur. We want them to continue to do that, but under the auspices of the United Nations, because it is a bigger operation. It is something that the African Union, with its limited capacity, and -- and with limited experience in peacekeeping cannot do. So we're bringing the rest of the world together, and we're trying to help the people of Sudan. The government of Sudan should not hide behind sovereignty and intervention in the -- in the affairs of the state. These -- these things don't hold water anymore, because the world knows these troops are not going there to intervene in the affairs of Sudan. They are there to preserve life, to help the people of Darfur secure their own life, something that the government of Sudan has advocated a long time ago. They cannot do it, so they have to let the rest of the world do it for them.</s>WHITE-HAMMOND: I think it's also important for people to contextualize the government of Sudan and its own history. In fact, this government has presided over the genocide in south Sudan. It presided over the genocide in the Nuba Mountains, and so this is the third genocide over this -- which this particular government, Omar al-Bashir has presided. And this genocide is spreading even beyond Sudan, so it's becoming regional now. It involves the country of Chad, as well as the Central African Republic. So, historically, this is a government that is guilty of serial genocide. And so for us to think that we can simply ask it to protect its own people is ludicrous.</s>OKE: There is more to come on INSIDE AFRICA. Just ahead, we'll visit a boyhood home of one of Africa's most popular young artists. That's next.