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Crisis in Darfur: Mass Murder and the Political Inconvenience of Genocide in the Modern World!
Tyler Jones Indiana University
Genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass killings, ethnocide, and democide: call it what
you will, the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur is one of the worst on record with more
than 1.8 million people displaced through attacks by government-endorsed militias and
Sudanese armed forces.1 The International community is obligated to act to halt the
Genocide in Darfur but has failed to uphold their promise of: “Never again.” This paper
will contend that the world has identified the genocide in Darfur but refuses to
acknowledge it because of the burden the acknowledgement would bring economically
and politically. This paper will reinforce this argument with the following methodology:
an examination of the obligations of all UN members via treaties, a general history and
exposition of the evidence of Genocide in Darfur, an examination of the restraints which
limit a country’s ability to intervene, and lastly updates on current aid and involvement
in Darfur.
The history of laws concerning Genocide is recent, in part due to the only recent
observance of Genocide as a crime. It was only after World War II, after the Holocaust,
after one of the most climactic acts of human depravity ever undertaken in history,
when any legal body in the world had considered making laws that would hold
individuals committing Genocide responsible. It was through years of argument and
legal debate that international lawyers, like Raphael Lemkin who famously coined the
term “Genocide,” successfully convinced the UN to hold the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on December 9, 1948, and
eventually adopt the entire convention by all signatory countries on January 12, 1951.2
To understand why foreign governments are arguing about intervention and their
specific obligations, we must identify the passages of the United Nation Convention on
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Scott Straus, “Darfur and the Genocide Debate,” Foreign Affairs 84, No.1 (2005), p. 123 2 United Nations,“United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” Treaty Collection, http://treaties.un.org/Pages/Error.aspx?messageKey=SSIS#Participants.
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the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which legally hold signatories
accountable to act in the occurrence of genocide. Article 1 of the treaty reads, “The
Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in
time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to
punish.”3 The first clause is direct and ambiguous about the duties of treaty members.
It states that members must actively seek to discourage genocidal actions, and to hold
perpetrators accountable for it. The clause is vague though. It does not give any sense
of how to undertake these actions or on what scale to undertake them.4 Even more, it
comes into conflict with the Sovereignty Clause in the UN Charter, which states that
members must respect the choices and decisions of other governments to rule, in the
best manner those governments see fit. These conflicts have come up in past debates of
intervention in cases like Rwanda and Somalia. Either way, the UN does establish that
nations must try to stop genocide, if they cannot prevent it.
There are two more important clauses. Article 4 states, “Persons committing
genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3 shall be punished, whether
they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.”5 This
clause allows for easier prosecution of genocide, because it is directed at prosecuting
individuals and not so much the organization, party, or country.6 This can allow for, at
the very least, the legal detainment of the leaders of the mass killings. It is much easier
militarily and financially to catch a few leaders than to stop an entire nation. Arguably
the most debated clause is Article 8, which states, “Any Contracting Party (member of
the UN) may call upon the competent organs (the UN itself or other nations) of the
United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they
consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide or any of
the other acts enumerated in Article 3.”7 Article 8, could be used to completely undo the
work of Article 1 because of its use of the word “may.” This suggests that countries may
so choose if they wish to participate in the actions of fighting and preventing genocide.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!3 United Nations, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948, p.1. 4 Jack Bielasiak, in class 9.14.2011. !5 United Nations, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948, p.1. 6 Jack Bielasiak, in class 9.16.2011. 7 United Nations, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948, p.2.
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As Professor Bielasiak states, “it suggests that the clause, itself, is voluntary.”8 The
danger is that it implies that a state could wait for others to act, possibly costing more
lives, if the state is not at a politically convenient point to act on, prevent, or punish
genocide. All these articles will be important to understanding why countries are
obligated to help in Darfur, and understanding their logic in why they are or are not
helping.
The evidence for genocide in Darfur is abundant. Khartoum has always had a
weak, but definite grip on Sudan and her people. Historic marginalization of the
outskirts of the country, mainly the traditionally blacker and African areas, has taken
place ever since British colonial occupation in the late 19th- early 20th centuries.9 This
marginalization has come despite Darfurians and many black Sudanese being Muslim
and having, “years of intermarriage [which has] narrowed obvious physical differences
between ‘Arabs’ and black ‘Africans.’”10 Successive Sudanese governments, comprised
mainly of Arabs, continued these policies adding their own personal loathing of Africans
or “Abids,” meaning slaves.11 Since Rwanda’s independence from Belgium in 1962,
numerous governments and attempted coups have taken place, until 1989 when the
National Islamic Front (NIF), a radical, pro-Islamic sect came into power via a coup
d’état. Along with new president Omar Al-Bashir, the NIF brought its own racialized
goals into the mix in Khartoum: A Pan-Arab dream of a “unified Arab state” in the
region of the Sahara Desert.12 Miller describes policy change as soon as the NIF took
power,
“The Arab supremacists who wanted the region to evolve into a unified
Arab state began their efforts to either forcibly move or destroy
populations incompatible with their goals in order to change the ethnic
composition of the area. This ideology, to which the elites in Khartoum
subscribed, was indeed part of the region’s politics.”13
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!8 Jack Bielasiak, in class 9.16.2011.!9 Molly J. Miller, “The Crisis in Darfur.” P.115-6. 10 Straus, p. 126. 11 Miller, P.116-8. 12 Ibid. p.118-9. 13 Ibid. p.119.!
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For these raids and attacks on innocents and rebels alike, Khartoum used a combination
of government endorsed militias, known as Janjaweed, and their own military. The
Janjaweed originated as early as 1986 when President al-Dahab institutionalized
aggressive militaristic attitudes of local Arab tribes against the Sudan People’s
Liberation army (SPLA) by endorsing the historic raiders and later arming them.14 The
leader of the Janjaweed, Musa Hilal, “was deliberately recruited for his brutality by
Khartoum and continues to receive substantial resources from Khartoum…”15 It seems
quite clear that persecution of non-Arab Sudanese has historically been a focus for
Khartoum.
Evidence abounds of the atrocities committed in Darfur, not only from past
injustices as mentioned above but in the evolving, genocidal actions of the present.
President Al-Bashir has used raids, by the SPLA rebels, to largely justify the military and
Janjaweed attacks on villages.16 Aiding Khartoum primarily in the 1980’s, Muammar
Qaddafi, the dictator of Libya, supplied Khartoum and Arab tribesman with weapons.
Qaddafi also called for “Arabization” and the supremacy of Arab traditions, customs,
and the suppression of non-Arab religions and cultures. Qaddafi, like the NIF, dreamed
of a pan-Arab super state across the Sahara Desert.17 Studying the violence that has
occurred because of support from Khartoum and Qaddafi, the United States State
Department created the Atrocities Documentation Survey (ADS) in 2004, which sought
to study and understand the violence. The survey produced numerous results. Of the
displaced Darfurians, the vast majority (~70-80%) of people surveyed said that racial
epithets were used during attacks on their villages. The main tribes that made up the
victims were the Zaghawa, Fur, Masalit and Jebal tribes. The respondents described
their attackers as mainly a mix of Sudanese troops and Janjaweed. Violence involved a
number of components from bombings, to shootings, to rape and arson.18 As early as
2003, many US satellite images reported that “around 574 villages had been burned
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!14 Miller, p.118. 15 Eric Reeves, “Watching Genocide, doing nothing: the final betrayal of Darfur.” p.7. 16 Miller, P.120. 17 John Hagan et al., “The collective dynamics of racial dehumanization and genocidal victimization in Darfur,” American Sociological Review 73, no. 1 (2008), p.880-881,!18 Hagan, p.883-885.
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down and another 157 damaged…”19 Straus also reported on the methodology of the
attackers and the strategies they used,
“Testimony, recorded at different times and locations, consistently shows
that the attackers single out men to kill. Women, children, and the elderly
are not spared, however. Eyewitnesses report that the attackers
sometimes murder children. For women, the primary threat is rape;
sexual violence has been widespread in this conflict.”20
More evidence of Genocide can be found in scholarly articles: Remco van de Pas, of the
British Medical Journal, reported that about 100,000 displaced people at a Kalma camp
run by the African Union and the United Nations, who had received just enough aid to
survive.21 This is a clear example of the removal of conditions for these people to survive
in, by the Sudanese government and a violation of the UN Convention on Genocide
Article 2c. In 2006 Peter Moszynski, of the British Medical Journal, noted that African
Union peacekeeping forces had been spread so thin that more troops were desperately
needed. He also warned that much of the Darfur aid groups were in danger and by
extension the Darfurian refugees, if the troops were not sent.22 The consistent theme
through all of these articles and reports identify the government and militias as the
primary perpetrators. They identify these troops as targeting non-Arab civilians, killing
specifically the men and many others. The burning of villages conjures up images of
Stalinist practices of destroying even the memories of peoples deemed “enemies of the
state.” The killing of children and women revives images of Nazi troops, who were
ordered to slaughter women and children in many ghettos and work camps. Even
persecution over perceived differences in appearance (as previously discussed- there
were not many in Darfur because of centuries of intermarrying) conjures up images of
the Rwandan Genocide and of Hutus identifying seemingly different-looking Tutsis. It
is obvious from the evidence that not only does this violence classify as genocide, as Eric
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!19 Straus, p. 127. 20 Ibid p.127. 21 Remcon van de Pas, “Darfur-dependent population at risk,” British Medical Journal 333, no. 7573 (2006), p.846-7. 22 Peter Morszynski, “Troops are need in Darfur,” British Medical Journal 333, no. 7567 (2006), p.514.!
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Reeves believes, but also Darfur shares key aspects of other genocides, which many
countries have previously recognized. A country would have to be in full denial to refute
this clear evidence. Despite the nature of the violence, many countries have been
hesitant to call the violence in Darfur genocide. However, economic investment in the
region appears to play a role in what position countries take in the debate on genocide in
Darfur.
Sudan itself took the official position that the militias it had armed were fighting
and killing the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (Jem)
rebels, who had begun the conflict by attacking Sudanese troops. 23 Sudan also feared
that its rights as a state (via the UN state sovereignty clause) could possibly be violated
because of what they saw as fabricated facts. Other nations like China and Russia
strongly oppose the UN’s continual prying into the Sudanese government’s actions
because they, China and Russia, have dealt violently with separatist rebel movements in
the past; the Chechens were put down in Russia and the Uighurs were put down in
China. Political controversy stems from every angle as both sides, the Sudanese and the
pro-trial side, have legitimate legal positions, backed by UN laws that contradict each
other. As mentioned earlier, the UN Convention on Genocide is ambiguous as to how
exactly a perpetrator of Genocide would be punished, if that perpetrator was an active
government administrator or a state itself, without violating the UN charter section on
state sovereignty. The Sudanese government, like it or not, has a completely valid
argument because if they are indeed aiming towards keeping control in their country,
fighting rebels as they claim they are, then the world community has no international
legal privilege or right to intervene in Sudan. Indeed, if signatories of the UN were to
invade Sudan and physically stop the violence, then what little standing and authority
the UN would have would die instantly, as its own charter, its founding text, would be
violated so brazenly. Thus, not only is the UN legally frozen in its place because of the
legal contradictions created between the UN charter and the UN convention on
Genocide, but the signatory nations, and by all extent the only muscle of the UN, are as
equally legally frozen as well. Despite legal ambiguities in international law, there are
also economic incentives for nations to support Sudan. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!23 “Q and A: Sudan’s Darfur Conflict,” BBC News. January 23, 2012. Web. 4/26/2012. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3496731.stm.
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The economy of Sudan today is based around agricultural production (cotton,
livestock, sugar) and, most importantly, oil. Once debt-ridden and on the verge of
having their IMF (International Monetary Fund) membership revoked, Sudan now uses
oil profits to fund their ongoing military ambitions.24 Oil was first discovered in Sudan
in 1979, primarily in the South. 25 American companies had not been invested in Sudan
since 1966 because it was identified in the Anti-Terrorism Act (along with Iraq, Iran,
Syria, Cuba, North Korea and Libya). With the Americans gone, mainly Middle-Eastern
and European countries and companies began drilling in Sudan.26 The main drilling
consortium is the Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Corporation (GNPOC), which is a
multinational firm combining several companies’ resources. The four countries which
are invested in the huge GNPOC firm the most are: China (the National Oil company
owned by the state) at 40%, Petronas Carigali (State Oil firm of Malaysia) at 30%, the
Canadian-centered Talisman Energy at 25%, and the National Oil company of Sudan at
5%.27 Along with these four main investors, numerous other countries have invested in
Sudanese Oil including: France, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, and Qatar.28 These oil
investments create a conflict of interests between economic practicality and global,
moral obligations.
Oil is a multibillion-dollar industry, enriching those who find it and sell it. For
the countries that drill in Sudan, there is great incentive to preserve Sudan’s status as a
non-genocidal country. This is because if Sudan were marked with this stigma, not only
would these corporations, and in some cases countries, be breaking the UN treaty on
Genocide (by supporting it through funding), but Sudan might get hampered with heavy
trade barriers, making oil drilling much more costly and burdensome. Not to mention
that public outcry at home would be much stronger to stop drilling and by extension
supporting genocide. Talisman has already had numerous protests against it for being
in Humanitarian disaster zones like Sudan anyway.29 Also, any military action is
expensive, and a sudden military burden, because of a UN treaty, may not be a tab
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!24 Cleophas Lado, “Political Economy of the Oil Industry in the Sudan Problem or Resource in Development,” Erdkunde, Bd. 56, H. 2. (2002), p.159 25 Ibid. p. 160.!26 Ibid, p. 161. 27 Ibid. p.161. 28 Ibid. p. 161.!29 Lado, p.162.
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countries are desirous to foot. Needless to say, these countries would suffer
economically and would be at a great political inconvenience, if much of the oil from
Sudan disappeared and they were obligated to enter into expensive military actions, all
because of a genocide classification.
Unhindered by the political inconvenience of Sudanese Oil, the United States
House of Representatives voted to label the Darfurian violence as “genocide” in July
2004, based off of numerous US reports and other sources. Thus the US was the first
nation to ever enact article VIII of the UN Convention on Genocide, forcing the UN to
enter into discussion about Sudan. Then US Secretary of State Collin Powell
acknowledged that his determination of “genocide” came from the feedback of the ADS
reports. As expected though, a variety of nations fought back, refusing to acknowledge
the violence in Darfur as genocide. Canadian, British, European Union and Chinese
officials all sidestepped the word “genocide.” 30 This can surely be related to heavy levels
of investment in Sudanese oil, especially by Canada (25%) and China (40%), and the
huge political inconvenience of these charges. Even UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
seemed reluctant to label Sudan as genocide. His feelings came not out of
inconvenience, but of maintaining the stability of the UN. Annan knew that if he issued
any strong bill calling for the military neutralization of Khartoum, it would be quickly
vetoed and rejected (the veto party being led by China and Russia). This would not only
undermine his authority, but the legitimacy of the UN Genocide Convention. In
September 2004, Kofi passed a weak bill, (an attempt at a happy medium) barely
approved by China, which called for a small five man commission to investigate the
charges against Sudan. It also quietly threatened economic sanctions, and it called for
the African Union to monitor a cease-fire between the Sudanese government and (at
that time, before the creation of South Sudan) the Southern Sudanese Rebels.31 Looking
back on the “Commission of Inquiry (COI)” Eric Reeves explains his disgust with the
purposeful sabotage of the entire investigation:
“An inquiry was obligatory. At the same time, Annan knew perfectly well
that a finding of genocide by the COI would destroy the credibility of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!30 Ibid. p. 131.!31 Lado, 130.
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Security Council. For China and Russia would have been no less willing to
exercise their veto power in protecting Khartoum after such a finding than
they were before. The spectacle of the Security Council remaining
paralyzed… was too much for Annan, and this ensured in advance that no
such determination would emerge. Massive crimes against humanity, war
crimes, and other violations of international law were all fine, as was
finding of ‘possible’ genocide- but not a decisive genocide
determination…”32
Kofi did what he thought was right, by attempting to preserve the integrity of the
council. At the same time, Eric Reeves would go on to show that Annan personally put
weak investigators on the case, along with strict rules for them and scarce resources. A
determination of partial or “possible genocide” was all but predetermined.33 Although it
was against UN policy to speak about the report, Reeves reports that many UN officials
attempted to hint at the truth. This is evident in the example of Jan Egeland, head of
UN humanitarian operations, who stated that the violence in Darfur is “ethnic cleansing
of the worst sort.”34 Interestingly, the US already considered their obligations of the UN
Conventions on Genocide filled. Collin Powell believed that, by simply researching and
determining that genocide was happening, the United States had already fulfilled its
contractual obligations in the UN Convention on Genocide.35 Powell also cited the US’s
numerous aid forces in Sudan and other pressures that Washington had placed on
Khartoum. Reeves and other sources all cast doubt on the US’s “action” against the
genocide in Darfur, most noting that because Washington was wrapped up in two
expensive wars/occupations, of Afghanistan and Iraq, military action against Khartoum
would have been incredibly politically and fiscally inconvenient.
There have been efforts to help the refugees of the violence who have settled in
between the Sudan-Chad border. Numerous aid foundations, including the World
Health Organization (WHO), the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United
Nations, numerous countries, and numerous other organizations have become involved !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!32 Reeves, p.8. 33 Ibid, p.8.!34 Ibid, p.8. 35 Straus, p. 131.
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in Darfur, to alleviate the burden of the refugees. Each of these entities has provided
these refugees with some of their only lifelines of survival.36 But even for these
organizations, the situation in Darfur appears bleak. The African Union forces are
weakening and even contracting their areas of protection, allowing many aid workers to
go unprotected from the militias.37 Violence is even making its way into eastern Chad,
where many refugees have fled. Eric Reeves is crushed by the idea that so many key
political players know what is going on in Darfur, yet remain politically indifferent. The
inaction in Darfur manifests images of the Rwandan genocide, when so many countries
knew about the crisis and yet chose to do nothing about it or to justify the violence as
tribal violence. In his article about the international response to Darfur, Nsongurua J.
Udombana suggests,
“Since peacekeeping appears to be the most that the global community can
offer Darfur, the Security Council must summon the courage to deploy
decisively. Time is of the essence in peacekeeping. Rapid deployment
could determine not only the success of a mission, but also the ability to
prevent massive loss of innocent lives. It is indefensible to delay
deployment until Khartoum, the seat of perfidy and [the] engine room of
terror, is pacified. Although deployment of [UN forces] will not
necessarily end the crisis in Darfur, it could mark the beginning of a
renewed effort to get the peace process back on track.”38
As he notes, it may be too much to expect the international community to fulfill their
military role in Darfur, and so it falls on the shoulders of the UN to protect these people.
He is not asking for a military takedown of the Sudanese government, just a strong,
reliable force to protect the refugees while peace is in the works.
There is one more window of opportunity for the international community to at
least impede the genocidal efforts of Khartoum. Because of Article IV of the UN
Genocide Convention, individuals may be brought up on charges of Genocide, regardless
of what the state is doing. This gives the world a chance to use Article IV to !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!36 Straus, p.127. 37 Reeves, p.9.!38 Nsongurua J. Udombana, “Still playing Dice with Lives: Darfur and the Security Council Resolution 1706,” The Third World Quarterly, 28, No. 1 (2007), p.109.
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simultaneously take down the leadership in Khartoum and possibly maintain their
economic investments. The “ringleaders” are Musa Hilal, the leader of the Janjaweed,
and the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, mainly because they are the faces of their
sector of genocide. Hilal is already notorious around the world for his actions, and
numerous war crime charges and humanitarian accusations have come against him via
the International Criminal Court. President Bashir was recently (2009-10) issued an
arrest warrant by the ICC, wherein he was to turn himself in for the crimes of genocide
and various other things.39 Of course, Khartoum would not willingly give up two of the
most important leaders to their “Arabization” goals, so it falls upon the international
community to put pressure on Sudan. Although it is a long shot, this is a “middle-
ground” of sorts, wherein full military pressure would not be needed and economic
investments could possibly remain unhindered by any stigma or national label of
“genocide.”
Some might argue that Darfur is not genocide because it has not been labeled as
such by the international community. They might say that if it were genocide, the
countries would be legally bound to stop it. Since there is no action, we can determine
that countries see no evidence of genocide. To respond to this, we have proof of all
forms of genocide, as discussed in Professor Bielasiak’s class: direct (killings, murder),
indirect (withholding of necessities for the conditions of life) and auxiliary (purposeful
efforts to stop reproduction, or to contaminate the ethnicity through rape/ sexual
assaults) forces. 40 Secondly, nations have many reasons, primarily economic, which
keep them from fully reporting genocide. Therefore, countries may very well see
genocide happening, but whether they decide to act on it, and admit what they are
seeing is genocide, is a completely different story. Many can even justify their inaction
through article VIII of the UN Convention on Genocide, although this has not been
used, yet. We cannot use the international response as a basis for genocide’s definition
because there were many genocides, which were not responded to quickly, or at all (e.g.
Nazi Germany, USSR “Great Terror,” Rwanda, Armenia). Therefore we must base our
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!39 “International Legal Materials: Arrest warrant for Pres. Omar Al Bashir,” American Society of International Law, 48, No. 3 (2009), pp. 466-469. 40 Jack Bielasiak in class, 9.14.2011.!
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definitions of genocide solely on the evidence, and not on what response is given by the
international community on the subject.
The world has become preoccupied. The consequences of another unheeded
Genocide are far from the minds of nations. Instead, they are preoccupied with
economic development, the current recession and other current socio-political
occurrences to worry about the consequences of Genocide. They have used the
ambiguity of the UN treaty on Genocide to justify limited action (USA) and inaction.
Some countries are so concerned with promoting their financial wealth and limiting
debt that they have refused to even acknowledge the Genocide in Darfur. As I have
shown, entities who are preoccupied with practical interests or restraints, be them
economic (China), political (USA), or fights for continued relevance (Kofi Annan & the
UN), are tempted away from their moral duties. Ultimately we stand in the midst of
another Armenia, another Rwanda. The world has placed self-interest before moral
obligation and thus, the world has failed the people of Darfur.
!