Tuesday, June 20, 2006

I believe you Omar

I subscribe to a number of Sudan news alerts. At least a few times each week for the past couple of months, I have received messages that the Sudanese government has announced that they will not allow U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur. It is true that I tend to doubt the word of genocidal regimes, but when genocidal regimes are saying that they won't allow anyone to come in and stop the killing, I give them the benefit of the doubt and take them at their word.

I just received a news alert from CNN that al-Bashir has stated once again - "his strongest rejection yet" - that he won't allow U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur:

"This shall never take place," al-Bashir said of the U.N. deployment. "These are colonial forces, and we will not accept colonial forces coming into the country."
Since the president of Sudan has accused the United Nations of being a colonial body, I think it is fair to say that he is never ever going to allow U.N. troops into his country. Since the Security Council is not going to send troops without Sudanese permission, it is (long past) time to stop pretending that there is anything that they can do. Nations who oppose genocide need to step up and act outside the U.N. Sovereignty has no meaning when you're slaughtering your own citizens.

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