[This is part of the weekly series written by the authors over at Coalition for Darfur, and posted by bloggers who are part of the Coalition...like me. If you want more information, head on over there and read about what you can do to help.]
Never Again: Again and Again
In her 2001 article Bystanders to Genocide, Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power recounts how President Clinton was shocked and outraged by an article written by Philip Gourevitch recounting the horrors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, prompting him to send the article to his national security advisor Sandy Berger with a note scrawled in the margin reading "Is what he's saying true? How did this happen?"
After taking office, President Bush reportedly read Power's article on the Clinton administration's failure to intervene during the genocide. He too scrawled a message in the margin - "NOT ON MY WATCH."
Yet we are now faced with another African genocide, this time in Darfur, and the United States and the rest of the world are responding exactly as they did during Rwanda - with paralyzed inaction.
Though there are many key differences between what is taking place in Darfur and what occurred in Rwanda a decade ago, there are also many similarities.
In 1993, the world watched "Schindler's List" and wondered how such horrors could unfold and why they were not stopped. In 2004, it watched "Hotel Rwanda" and asked the same questions. In each case,those questions went unanswered.
Just as in Rwanda, the international military force on the ground in Darfur is far too small, poorly equipped and operating under an extremely limited mandate that does not allow them to protect civilians at risk.
Just as in Rwanda, the genocide is taking place against a backdrop of "civil war," leading the international community to focus more on establishing a cease-fire than protecting those being killed. Just as in Rwanda, the death toll is nearly impossible to determine.
Just as in Rwanda, the United Nations is more or less paralyzed as individual nations seek to protect their own national interests rather than helpless men, women and children.
Just as in Rwanda, media coverage is almost nonexistent, Congress is all but silent, and the human rights community is having difficulty getting the nation to pay attention to a genocide in progress.
Just as in Rwanda, a genocide is unfolding - but this time it ishappening on our watch.
We ask you to join the Coalition forDarfur as we attempt to raise awareness of the genocide in Darfur and raise money for the live saving work Save the Children is doing there.
