Aid workers fear a new disaster as militia forces close in on a major Darfur city.
On a sunny April afternoon in 2006, thousands of people flocked to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for a rally with celebrities, Olympic athletes, and rising political stars. Their cause: garner international support to halt a genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.
“If we care, the world will care. If we act, then the world will follow,” Barack Obama, then the junior Illinois senator, told the crowd, speaking alongside future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That same week, then-Sen. Joe Biden introduced a bill in Congress calling on NATO to intervene to halt the genocide in Sudan. “We need to take action on both a military and diplomatic front to end the conflict,” he said.
In the US at least, our policy today doesn’t affect this genocide. Outside of Sudan, the important parties are Egypt, the UAE, and factions in Libya. Whereas in Palestine US missiles and funding to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars are directly involved, US policy today does not affect Sudan materially.
Still though, the UN and other international organs are documenting and attempting to aid. It’s just not disputed by far right fucks in our government.