African Union prepares for possible military action in Darfur

Observers sent to Sudan by the African Union are reporting that civilians in Darfur were chained and burned alive during a Janjaweed attack earlier this month. The Economist reports that the African Union decided yesterday to start preparing for military action:

"The A.U. was already preparing to expand its ceasefire-observer mission, which would be protected by a small force of around 300 troops. But it is now contemplating a much larger contingent, with the specific job of disarming the militiamen."

While the African Union steps up, several wealthy European, Asian, and Middle Eastern governments are failing their brothers and sisters in Darfur. The Washington Post reports that the U.N. "has failed to collect even half of the $350 million it requested in March to run its relief operation in Darfur," so U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is making direct individual appeals to the governments of Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Belgium, which combined have provided just over $11.5 million, as well as to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, whose contributions thus far have been "totally insignificant."

If the Netherlands can pony up $122 million, and the United States "has underwritten 45 percent of the U.N. budget for this," surely these other countries can do their part. Are Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States the only Western countries willing to put their money where their mouths are to stop genocide? I certainly hope not. Although I suppose that's the cost of continued stalling on the use of the word "genocide." It might seem like mere semantics, but when the world beyond righteous activists and the U.S. Congress and stands up and declares "genocide," watch how quickly some of these countries pitch in with resources to avoid a morally untenable position on the wrong side of history.

I have included with this post a map from Reuters you might useful. Just click the image above for a larger version.