The pirate trade has been the most notable export commodity of Somalia for some years, and its turn-over figures showed a steep rise up to the point where the European Union and the United States decided to step in. The pirates’ modus operandi was to kidnap a trading vessel and its crew to blackmail the owners of the ship into paying ransoms amounting to several million dollars each time.

Unbelievable as it is, paying ransom has not been outlawed under terrorist acts even though persons paying ransom are directly colluding with terrorists. Instead, several European nations and the US have deployed naval forces near the coast of Somalia to safeguard the passage of trade ships. The French navy is part of this deployment under the code name Atalanta. The bill for it all is not footed by the companies directly profiting from the naval action but by the taxpayer as is normal with very rich companies belonging to very rich families.

Image source

The Somali pirates seemingly assumed that the La Somme was a civil transport vessel and attacked it from small boats firing several volleys from their Kalashnikovs. I imagine that the pirates were slightly taken aback when the attacked ship turned round and took up their pursuit. A French naval spokesperson issued a statement to the point that nobody had been hurt in the incident and that five pirates had been apprehended.

By default, the French might have found the solution on how to make their job easier. There are many civil transport ships lying idle all over the world that could be requisitioned and transformed into pirate traps. If a mouse trap works for a mouse, a pirate trap should work for a pirate, wouldn’t you agree? As the whole operation is paid for by the taxpayer so that private companies might send their ships by way of Somalia to the Suez Channel, it should be paramount to keep the time spent y the navies in Somali waters to a minimum.

Luring the pirates out to prepared traps would certainly help shorten manpower available to pirate chiefs and make the recruiting of new members more difficult. Using the attraction of a seemingly helpless ship manned by marines would certainly be more efficient than waiting for a pirate attack on a real civil transport with the chance that no naval vessel is nearby. It certainly beats the awful thought of chasing pirates over the dusty hills of Somalia by miles.

Related Articles

Piracy: A Lucrative Business in Somalia

Piracy in Somali Waters: What Will Be The Solution?

Somali Pirates

The set up of the bus service has a few peculiarities one needs to get used to, too. For one, the bus stops have been built on islands in the middle of the road and serve both directions at the same time. There are attendants at the stops to help people to find their directions and also to help them onto the busses as the ascent into them tends to be quite steep. Other peculiarities will be better understood by those who don’t have them:

The buses run on a timetable, a thing completely alien to my British readers, and even more, they run on time. As a plus, they are cheap. And again for my British readers, no, this is not fiction. Almost any other country in the world is able to run well organized public transport; it’s only the British who are incompetent to a fault.

Image source

In Johannesburg to date, the cheap way to travel had been provided by the railway, which still is run on English standards; it usually is late if it runs at all. The reliable service so far was provided by the township taxis, but these minibuses only ran when they had all seats occupied; a similar service might be known and even used by my Turkish readers in Turkey. And the taxis were and still are quite expensive.

The opening of the bus lines was not delayed due to any fault of the government, but due to protests and blockages by the owners of the township taxi companies. They obviously objected strenuously to the loss of their virtual monopoly. Monopoly, because the railway didn’t really constitute a viable alternative, as the crime rate on train is phenomenal. It can only be hoped that the buses may be kept clear of that. If I say protests, these had been quite aggressive, with buses being taken under fire from taxis, resulting in wounded passengers and policemen so far.

If you live in a country offering bus services, you might find it curious that setting up a bus service might be so taxing and complicated. It might seem just ‘typical’ to you that South Africa was having a struggle setting up something so basic. If so, I beg you to consider: The protests and blockages by the township taxis are not a particular phenomenon to South Africa, they occur daily in any country, most notably in the US, the UK, and the rest of Europe. The mechanism is loftily known as lobbying and is applied by pharmaceutical companies, the arms lobby, and any other industry (this includes charities) to bend democracy to their own rules.

In school, the same phenomenon is called bullying; the words used for it get more sophisticated the more money is involved, that’s the only difference.

But the local residents are extremely happy with the new service, as it just about cuts their transport costs for getting to work in half. That is a lot of money towards feeding a family. And getting to work on time is providing them with added job security.

Related articles:

2010 FIFA World Cup: Will South Africa be Ready?
The 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa
How to Survive South Africa in 2010
A World Cup for South Africa

An international stand-off has been brewing for months and could escalate to full blown war because of this tiny little bit of rock which has an area of less than an acre. People have made their homes there and have been reaping the rewards of their endeavours as fishermen because that particular bit of Lake Victoria, the largest tropical lake in the world, is deep and rich with stocks of fish. It currently “belongs” to Uganda.

Until 5 or so years ago no-one cared about Migingo. All was well until someone noticed that the one fisherman who lived there was landing incredible catches of fish and then everyone wanted to live on Migingo. The situation has been made more pressing because the fish stocks elsewhere in Lake Victoria are dwindling thanks to pollution and over-fishing. People came from neighbouring islands and from the Ugandan and Kenyan mainland and even from Tanzania

Image via Wikipedia

Tensions have risen ever since, with Uganda laying claim to the island and 80% of the population being Kenyan. Extortion, piracy and theft thrive as everyone tries to make a living or a killing, and the idyllic atmosphere enjoyed in 2002 when the first house was built has vanished to be replaced by tin huts, brothels and other pollutants.

Now the squabble has reached ministerial level in both countries and the joint border commission is trying to sort out the mess. Whatever they decide will be bad news, and there is always the possibility of all-out war.

No doubt the USA will have something to say, but so far it has expressed no feelings one way or another. I wonder how long that will last. I dare say the redoubtable Hilary Clinton willl feel the need to make a whistle stop tour of the region some day soon.

The Second Congo War officially ended in 2003, but the violence is by no means at an end. Unnamed civilians and families not so different from our own continue to suffer as their world is torn apart by war. “We do not know what to do now,” one said. “We run every day, we sleep in the forest; we fear attacks.”

The Kivu conflict – continued violence of the Second Congo War since its official end in 2003 – has been fought between the government military (FARDC) and rebel forces. The rebels fight under the command of Laurent Nkunda of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). The UN and the genocidal Hutu power, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have also become involved.

The conflict was born directly out of the Second Congo War, after which Nkunda became general in the army of the transitional government before rejecting its authority and retreating with a number of troops into the forest. He claimed this was due to the government’s alliance with the ‘killers’ of the FDLR against which Nkunda fought as a young man. In response to the proposition that often civilians lend support to government troops, Nkunda has suggested that education is the solution, for in truth, the people do not understand what they are fighting for.

It seems that Nkunda’s motives, and those of his rebel force, are not without cause however. Nkunda claims to be struggling on behalf of the innocent civilians who live without the protection of either the national government or the United Nations.

Demands for regional security by the eviction of foreign forces and the disarming of all other Congolese nationals are accompanied by accusations that the United Nations have deliberately overlooked widespread attacks on Tutsi minorities in the region, which he likens to their attitude towards the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

In the international community, Nkunda and his rebels have been accused of a host of human rights violations, including rape, murder, pillaging and the forced recruitment of child soldiers as young as twelve years old: accusations he vehemently denies. Interestingly, in 2006 after an international arrest warrant was issued for him, the UN Mission in the DRC refused to comply, stating that: “Mr Laurent Nkunda does not present a threat to the local population, thus we cannot justify any action against him.”

It is these accusations for which he is renowned, and rightly so, but the man himself appears to be considerably more complex. A Tutsi himself, he moved to Rwanda as an adult to study psychology at university. During the genocide, he joined the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) against the forces of the genocidal Hutu-led government.

During the First Congo War, Nkunda fought against the US-backed dictator Joseph Mobutu. His regime was guilty of countless human rights violations, corruption and political repression. He served as an important ally due to his firm opposition to any left-wing ideology and was entertained at the White House by Presidents Nixon, Regan and Bush, a relationship which cooled after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Now, according to the UN, Nkunda’s forces presented “the most serious threat to stability” in the area. While on one hand, it has been Nkunda who has persistently called for the Congolese government to return to peace talks, on the other accusations of human rights abuses; human trafficking and child soldiers seem to contradict this man’s supposed principles.

It seems impossible that two entirely contradictory portrayals can be true of one man. Propaganda is at play here: the question remains, on which side? It is, in the end, his ethical conviction, his sincerity which must be determined, for as long as the United Nations remains actively involved, Britain’s connection is clear.

There are those who argue that the Western world has no place in the affairs of Africa. “We have our own problems to solve at home, first,” is the petulant response from those considering house prices, job cuts and general elections as equivalent to genocide, starvation and oppression.

The hypocrisy is almost tangible, for we were happy to accept foreign assistance whenever our own security was under threat; to involve ourselves in Africa when expanding our empire into the heart of the continent, and business owners, bankers and the World Trade Organisation continue with contentment and a certain degree of smug satisfaction to involve themselves economically in Africa. (Interestingly, according to Amnesty International, “The worst fighting sometimes shifts location with the rise and fall of commodity prices.”)

The DRC is, after all, rich in natural resources such as gold, copper and timber, is one of the world’s largest diamond producers, and produces half its supply of the extremely valuable coltan for computer chips and mobile phones. That casts suspicion on any party who sees fit to involve themselves in the nation’s politics, no matter how ‘ideological’ their grounds. Please do bear that in mind next time your phone rings.

Since first publication of this article, there has been a change in the rankings an inclusion of nations.

1. Democratic Republic of Congo

   Once known as the Belgian Congo, Zaire, and now the Democratic Republic, this huge resource rich nation holds the position of poorest country in the World.

   It has been embroiled in wars, civil and with other nations, since Independence in 1960.

   During the past two decades of conflict, over 5.4 million people have died and continue to die at the rate of 45,000 a month. This is not only attributable to war, but its fellow travelers, disease and famine.

   DR-Congo has diamonds, uranium, cobalt, tantalum, copper, etc. The wars, besides being caused by ethnic hatred, are inspired by control of the nation’s wealth.

   The smuggling of coltan and cassiterite, the ores of tantalum and tin have fueled the war in the Eastern Congo.

   As a kleptocracy, whatever can be appropriated by the government and its agents, is, be it food aid, donations for health, is.

   Despite having more resources than most places in the world, two thirds of the population is malnourished. Hunger has provoked a market in ‘bushmeat‘, that is, the meat of wild animals, often chimpanzees and gorillas.

2. Zimbabwe

   The inclusion of Zimbabwe is no surprise as it was predicted in the last publication of this article.

   The poverty of Zimbabwe is not due to a dearth of resources but to gross mismanagement, corruption, and a destructive economic policy which saw previously productive farms taken from white owners and distributed to ‘War Veterans’.

   The country can no longer feed itself, and there is a serious food crisis in a nation that was once the ‘breadbasket’ of Africa.

   Where life expectancy improves in other places, in Zimbabwe it has declined from 60 to 37 years for males, 34 years for females, the lowest in the world.

   1.8 Million Zimbabweans live with HIV and receive no treatment as the health system has collapsed. There was a major cholera outbreak in December 2008, the number of cases reaching 89,018.

   Inflation is the highest in the world and now stands at 231,000,000%. Prices double every 1.3 days.

   Zimbabwe actually printed a hundred billion dollar bank note.

   80% of the population is unemployed.

   Corruption is so blatant that money contributed for humanitarian projects is regularly confiscated by the Government for its private usage.

   Due to the complete lack of interest by the government and the hunger of its people 60% of Zimbabwe’s wildlife has died since 2000.

3. Liberia

   Having gone through a terrible civil war, political unrest, and finally reaching a level of peace, the economy of Liberia needs to be rebuilt.

   A ban on Liberian ‘blood’ diamonds was lifted in 2007 and a new contract for the export of iron ore was signed.

   However, Liberia is still dependent on Foreign Aid and has an unemployment rate of approximately 85%. It’s external debt is 3.5 billion while its GDP is 2.5 billion.

   Life expectancy is 42.5 years and it has the highest population growth in the world at 4.50%.

   Currently, Liberia’s revenues come primarily from rubber exports and revenues from its maritime registry program, earning some $16 million in the years 2007/2008.

   There is increasing interest in the possibility of commercially exploitable offshore crude oil deposits along Liberia’s Atlantic Coast.

4. Guinea-Bissau

   Guinea-Bissau has declined from number 6 to 4. Its economy depends on farming and fishing. It exports fish, seafood, peanuts, palm kernels and timber.

   In December 2003, the World Bank, IMF, and UNDP provided $107 million emergency budgetary support to help the country’s economic development. This money has not been wisely used.

   There are 1.4 million people, with a life expectancy at birth being 45 years (male), 48 years (female). The adult prevalence of HIV/AIDS is about 10%

5. Somalia

   Somalia has not had a central government since 1991. There are various warlords with regional authority but no actual government.

   Foreign investment, however, does exist, and there are western factories currently turning a profit. Without a central government, money flows into private pockets.

   Somalia, without infrastructure, proper health care, public water or electricity, still manages to maintain property rights, provide its city-dwellers with a cheap mobile phone network and internet coverage, keep open several DHL offices and has a Coca Cola bottling plant.

   The cheapest international calls in the world can be made from a Sim card bought in Mogadishu, though the legality of the connection may be questionable. Business is the glue that holds Somali society together.

6. Comoros

   This nation consists of islands off the East coast of Africa. It has a troubled history as since Independence in 1975 there have been more than 20 coups.

   Orchestrating at least four of these coups was a group of white mercenaries known as Les Affreux (The Terrible Ones), and their notorious leader, Frenchman “Colonel” Bob Denard. Denard fled Comoros in 1989, when 3,000 French soldiers were sent after him.

   The last coup was in March 2008 when AU and Comoran soldiers seized the country.

   The population density may lead to an environmental crisis as there are 1000 people per square kilometer and a very high rate of population growth, primarily in the agricultural areas.

   Since 2004 the real GDP has been declining.

   There is an inadequate transportation system, low educational level, and its economy is based on foreign grants. Far from being a lush tropical paradise, food must be imported.

7. Solomon Islands

   There are nearly one thousand islands in this chain. Since 1998 ethnic violence, government misconduct and crime have undermined progress.

   The lawlessness, and extortion have brought the country to bankruptcy.

   In July 2003, at the request of the prime minister, a 2,250 strong international peacekeeping force led by Australia arrived on the island to restore order, disarm the militias, and expel the “thieves, drunkards, and extortionists” from the notoriously corrupt police force.

   Australia’s intervention was successful, and two years after troops had arrived, the country remained relatively stable.

   In April 2006 Snyder Rini was appointed prime minister. Rioting and looting followed. Many claimed Rini was beholden to Chinese business interests.

   This resulted in the destruction of much of Chinatown, in the capital. Eight days later, the Prime Minister stepped down. The parliament then elected the opposition candidate, Manasseh Sogavare, to the post.

   75% of the labor force is engaged in subsistence farming and fishing. Until 1998, when world prices for tropical timber fell, this was the Solomon Islands main export product. Forests were dangerously overexploited.

   Other important cash crops and exports include copra and palm oil. In 1998 Ross Mining of Australia began producing gold at Gold Ridge on Guadalcanal. Minerals exploration in other areas continued up until the outburst of ethnic violence, when exports of palm oil and gold ceased.

   A magnitude 8.0 earthquake and tsunami struck the Solomon Islands in April 2007, killing at least 20 people and destroying villages.

   Due to these factors, tourism has declined, factories have closed. And the Solomon Islands joins the list of Poorest Nations in the World.

8. Niger

   During the past few months, Niger has moved from the sad 1st position to the 8th. Things have not improved for this nation as much as things have deteriorated for the other seven.

   Niger is a landlocked country bordered by Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali and Nigeria.

   There is often drought and severe food crisis. 63% live on less than $1 (US) a day.

   Less than 15% of adults are literate and life expectancy is 46 years. Adult prevalence of HIV/AIDS is 1.2%, but this is just one of a number of infectious diseases.

   Many people die of diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, malaria and meningococcal meningitis.

   Slavery was outlawed in 2003 although there are reports that 43,000 people remain in bondage.

   Currently, members of the previous regime, which resigned in 2007, are under investigation for embezzling funds from the education ministry.

9. Ethiopia

   Ethiopia has ‘fallen’ one place, from being the 8th poorest nation to the 9th as other nations are doing so much worse.

   Half of its GDP is dependent on the agricultural sector, which suffers from frequent drought and poor cultivation practices. Coffee exports bring in $156 million but low market prices have farmers cultivating qat to supplement their income.

   In November 2001, Ethiopia qualified for debt relief and in December 2005 the International Monetary Fund forgave Ethiopia’s debt.

   The population is 74.7 million of which 50% falls below the poverty line and 80% lives on less than $2 a day.

   Life expectancy at birth is 47 years (male), 50 years (female).

   Adult literacy rate is 47% (male), 31% (female) and HIV/AIDS effects 4.4% of the adult population.

   Bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and hepatitis E malaria and cutaneous leishmaniasis are high risks in some locations, meningococcal meningitis, rabies and schistosomiasis are prevalent.

10. Central African Republic

    The Central African Republic has moved from 7th to 10th.

    The agricultural sector generates more than half of the country’s GDP. Due to its landlocked position, poor transport, unskilled work force, and a history of misdirected economic policies, CAR has been unable to develop economically.

    There are 4.3 million people, with a life expectancy at birth of 43.46 years (male), 43.62 years (female). HIV/AIDS effects 13.5% of the population.

Achievements to Date

The best result since 1956, when Kenya made her debut at the Olympic Games were Silver medals by Douglas Wakiihuri in the 1988 Seoul Olympics; Eric Wainaina in Sydney in 2000 and Catherine Ndereba in Athens in 2004. Others have been bronze medals in 1996 by Eric Wainaina and Joyce Chepchumba in Sydney Games in 2000.

Despite the weight of history, Kenya’s six entrants, are a formidable lot with at least four considered the best in the world at their specialty. The men’s line-up includes 2007 New York Marathon and 2007 & 2008 London Marathon Champion Martin Lel.

Lel is a formidable runner and will be well supported by Sammy Wanjiru, who might be the surprise weapon at the Games. He is an incredible young talent, who already holds the half-marathon world-record and ran 2:06 in his debut and then broke 2:06 in his second marathon at London just a few months later.

Haile Gebreselassie Opts Out

And finally, Robert Cheruiyot who won the Boston Marathon in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008, setting a course record 2:07:14 in 2006. These are names that would put fear in any opponent including the legendary distance runner and world record holder Haile Gebreselassie from Ethiopia. Fortunately, the 35-year-old Gebreselassie who holds the world marathon record of 2 hours 4 minutes 26 seconds decided against running the road race because of the poor air quality expected in Beijing so as to concentrate on 10,000m.

The women’s side includes the incredible and God fearing Catherine Ndereba, often known as Catherine the Great. Ndereba holds the distinction of holding the only top five fastest times in marathon history that are not held by Paula Radcliffe. Her fourth fastest time in history (2:18:47) was a world record when she ran it in 2001 and makes her the only other woman in history to have broken 2:19:00 in the marathon. So with Radcliffe not having raced of late, Catherine, who is the defending 2007 World Athletics Champion in Marathon, may finally clinch that elusive Gold for Kenya at the Olympic Games.

The other female runners are not well known, but who knew Douglas Wakiihuri when he won Gold in the 3rd edition of the World Athletics Championships in 1987? Big Games have a history of throwing up new talent and it is a momentous time for Martha Komu and Salina Kosgei to prove that they are not just making up the numbers. Of note is the fact that Salina Kosgei finished fourth in London in 2007.

Formidable Force

Kenya will be a formidable force in the games, especially without world record holder Haile Gebreselassie in the mix. It is time for Kenyan Marathon runners who have dominated city marathons across the globe earning themselves plenty of money to demonstrate that they too can win gold for their country.

Whereas Martin Lel and Robert Cheruiyot, who have shown they can win strategically difficult races like New York, London and Boston, might be considered favorites, Sammy Wanjiru could emerge the surprise hero given his under dog status and hunger to win his first Marathon race.

The flooding was massive. The waters got up to 1.668 meters in some areas. It is quite easy to see that people would be getting hurt. People were even seen destroying walls of houses to help others escape! In the end, despite the efforts people made to save others, 60 people are lying dead right now (more dead are being found).

People were killed, but that isn’t the only thing gone. Much of the city was destroyed. “Two oil refineries, hospitals, courts, homes, shacks, railway lines, buildings and roads were affected by the overnight storm”, stated by “Durban Calculates Rain Damage”. From all that damage, the whole city would probably be crippled for years. Things like this turn the common word “flood” into “mega-disaster”. Floods are normal things, and it is unimaginable that they can take this much and delete it from the map.

These articles relate to geography because they are the effects of a river changing as it flows. Rivers start out in the mountains and flow down in a certain path. Then eventually spring rainwaters come and overflow the banks of the river. This particular flood will be much known because it has devastated Durban, but it is still just a common occurrence of one of the most common geographic features on the planet.

I think this was a truly devastating occurrence, but it could and should have been avoided. I think that if better walls were built, then the floodwaters would have been diverted. A more expensive alternative would be to dam the river before it reaches major cities, so the floodwaters could be controlled. Also, if the river were dammed, a few major cities would be able to convert to hydroelectric power instead of the dirty coal.

Darfur; a region barren and dark. A region where everyday is a blessing, and children can be bought for $35 USD. Its haunting desert landscapes flood our televisions, along with starving children, and gruesome scenes of terror. Darfur is mostly dotted with small villages and towns of poverty-stricken civilians. The territory itself, like Sudan, is torn between the native African majority, and the Islamic extremists. In 2003, rebels in Darfur began demanding rights for black Africans from the Arab dominated Sudanese government. The people of Darfur felt they had been suffocated for far too long. In response to the rebellion, the Sudanese government launched its Arab militia, the Janjaweed, upon the territory. The Janjaweed are ruthless, storming village by village by raping, killing, torching, destroying, and torturing. The innocent people of Darfur were now fighting for their homeland, which was now a barren war zone.

THE GENOCIDE

Since 2003, more than 200,000 innocent civilians have been murdered in Darfur. Although rebels groups in Darfur plan most of the attacks against the Janjaweed militia, the women and children of the small villages mostly pay their price. Villages are commonly ravaged and destroyed within a matter of minuets, its citizens having little or no defense. “For here [Darfur], genocide is practiced daily; with malice that knows no human boundaries” -Lydia Polygreen. A young woman named Amara told a story of horror from her village. “The militia came to my village four times. Whenever they came they started killing and beating people, driving people out of their houses and taking their things. During the first attack I went to the mountains and I spent five days there. When I returned to my village I found everyone was dead. I was the last one left. I was alone in the village for about ten days, and then the militia came back and took the few things that I had left. I managed to escape and then I came here [Chad]. Not only is the war in Darfur a daily struggle for the civilians, but a daily fight for them as well.

Since 2004, 2,500,000 people have migrated west to Chad to escape the murder in Darfur. As violence began to spread along Darfur, make-shift refugee camps began to spring up along the Chad/Sudan border. The only problem was the camps were not prepared for the magnitude of violence and refugees the genocide has created. Thousands have died in aid camps do to lack of medical care, clean water, and food. The Sudanese government has placed tight restrictions on relief organizations, making aid work difficult, and its workers vulnerable to attack. Due to these restrictions; workers are often in short supply, as is money, and transportation. On December 9, 2006 Janjaweed gunman ambushed a medicine and aid truck in Darfur killing 30 people, some of which were burned alive. The situation in eastern Africa is far too dangerous for most humanitarian volunteers. Due to the mass migration of refugees, consequently the war too has migrated with them. As early as 2007 the Darfur conflict had spread to Chad and the Central African Republic.

With hundreds upon thousands of innocent people slaughtered, and millions slowly dieing in aid camps, one might ask why the “super powers” of the world have not done more to end the ongoing four year war. For months upon years many citizens of the United States have been demanding their nation stand tall and aid the people of Darfur. Not until late 2005, did President Bush admit the slaughter in Darfur was in fact genocide. Minus a few US based aid organizations, the United States has not had a major role in Darfur at all. The people of Sudan have the same rights that any human has, and it is time the United States of America starts recognizing it. With a nation of such power and wealth, there is no excuse for not contributing to the relief effort in Africa. The United States should have first recognized the conflict in Darfur as genocide prior to three years into the war. Secondly, the United States should have done something, even if that something was just donating money to relief efforts, or placing a few peace keeping troops on the ground. Rwanda is being repeated in Darfur, and the United States is letting it happened all over again.

“Most civilized nations have turned a deaf ear to this great holocaust now going on. It is one of the shames of the world that considers itself civilized”- Lucian Niemeyer. The United Nations has called the Darfur crisis the “world’s worst humanitarian disaster”, however little action has still been taken. The UN has placed some peace keeping troops and aid workers in the region, however little progress has been made. “The situation for humanitarian workers and the UN has never been as bad as it is now” – aid official, “The space for us to work is getting smaller and smaller and the war zone is getting larger and larger” – Lydia Polygreen. The United Nations feels the war zone is too dangerous for troops and aid workers. The UN should not withdrawal troops from the region because of dangers; that is what the troops are there for, to protect the people. If the UN wants to send troops to Sudan to just abandon the innocent in the worst situations there is really no point to the United Nations even being apart of this conflict at all. The United Nations has also been extremely limited to sanctions it can hold against the Sudanese government who has been harboring and funding the Janjaweed militia. Because Sudan’s major export is oil, and China imports most of its oil form Sudan, China has resisted sanctions on Sudan. The United Nations should not let China have so much power as to be able to completely withdraw sanctions, however because of China’s economic impact on many western nations; they would rather sit back and watch the genocide take place. Russia also helped Sudan develop its oil economy, and sells its government weapons on a regular basis. While many civilized nations are sitting back trying to take a soft approach into Darfur, hundreds upon thousands of people are dieing.

The genocide in Darfur in its four short years has already been compared to that in Rwanda and Cambodia alike. If all the nations of the world do not take action soon, the blood of millions of people will be on our hands. We have the troops, medicine, money and power to make a difference, but do we have the heart?

HOW CAN I HELP?

The nations of the world have relaxed through history and watched genocide and mass murder happen again and again. The entire point to history is to not allow the mistakes of the past to repeat themselves. If we are not to learn the valuable lessons of the killings from the past, the blood from the killings of the present will be on our hands. We often wonder how the German people sat back and let Adolf Hitler murder millions of innocent people. Many believe it was out of pure fear or brainwashing. What will be our excuse? How will we explain to our grandchildren that we allowed the murder of millions of innocent people?

We have witnessed the killing in heart of Rwanda. We heard the stories of horror from the jungles of Cambodia. Images of famine, disease, poverty, and genocide from Sudan flood our magazines, televisions, and minds. What do all these scenarios have in common? They are all horrific circumstances, where innocent people have been left to fight their own war. The world had not intervened in any of these situations either, until it was too late. Why do we continue to address genocide with the same incorrect solution? How many millions have to die before we will start to understand?

For obvious reasons, each and every warm-hearted human being should care about genocide; however if the lives of millions of innocent people isn’t enough to make you care, there is an alternative motive. September 11, 2001 and the ongoing war in Iraq has proved to the world that the United States of America is not always the super power of the world. We cannot assume that decades down the road we will not depend on anyone else for our survival, especially (as stated before), how we have witnessed how fast the tables can turn on days like 9/11.

In order to make change we must first remove ourselves from our busy, hectic lives, and put ourselves in their positions. Place ourselves as the widowed mother refugee, scrounging for food and water at an abandoned aid camp in Chad. Place ourselves as a young Thai boy, nervously praying to Buddha the second before a Khmer Rouge officer pulls the trigger of a revolver pressed against his head. We must place ourselves as every faceless identity; put ourselves in every mass grave. Only by luck were we fortunate enough to be born into a society where we are protected and respected, but millions are not as fortunate. We must never forget these people, as to forget them is to forget exactly how lucky we truly are.

For more information please visit: http://www.savedarfur.org/