Darfur - the genocide is not over United Nations

Have you ever wondered what is more important, politics or people? You may not, but the United Nations certainly has. And they picked politics, or so it seems.

I have long been an advocate of helping the people of Darfur from the genocide that has been ongoing from the Sudanese government. For years I have tried to add my voice to that of Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and hundreds of other non-celebrities. We all have asked the U.S. Government to get involved and to do something, while we have all acted directly. But all the U.S. Government has done is talk about HR 180 IH.

Hundreds of thousands have died since 2003. Millions have lost their homes and now live in refugee camps fearful of Sudanese government attacks. Government-allied militias - janjaweed - burned down villages, government planes dropped bombs on populated areas and reports of rape by the gunmen were rampant. And the U.S. Government was not concerned.

Yet today, the U.N. did something even worse.

“We can no longer talk of a big conflict, of a war in Darfur. I think now everybody understands it. We can no longer speak of this issue. It is over." Rodolphe Adada told The Associated Press this week before stepping down as head of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, or UNAMID.

Yet somehow I tend to believe this statement more

''There are no more people on their land to kill,'' said Abdelwahid Elnur, exiled leader of one of the oldest rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army

In America politicians have been waiting for this day. Their inaction and the major media’s failure to discuss what has been called the worst humanitarian crisis has been astounding. 6 years of what the U.S. Government described as genocide equated to so much paper shuffling. And now the U.N. wants to have the world’s businesses and governments reigniting financial support of a government that is headed by a leader wanted for war crimes and has a warrant for his arrest since March of 2009.

The U.N. might as well say that the Sudanese people, especially those in Darfur, are not important enough to care about. Because their statements via Adada, and the inaction of America, seems to have said that loud in clear politically.

A genocide does not end because you can’t find as many people to kill as you did 6 years prior. A nation that actively killed people for no reason other than they existed is not something the world should ignore. And were this in Europe I guarantee we would not – World War II proved that. The people of Darfur deserve no less respect.

Congress, President Obama, and Secretary of State Clinton don’t have the combined balls of a mouse on this issue. But that does not mean we, the American people and those reading this around the world, are equally as impotent. We can still do something.

I again urge those that can do something to help Not On Our Watch and other aide organizations that seek to help those suffering in Darfur. Together we can make a difference, we can help children, mothers and fathers. Because if we don’t neither the U.N. nor the U.S. Government seems willing to.

“Change you can believe in” shouldn’t just be an empty American political slogan.