Monday, July 24, 2006

Post recognizes dire situation in Sudan

An excerpt from the Washington Post editorial page:

"THE GENOCIDE in Sudan's western territory of Darfur shows no sign of
ending. Diplomatic efforts to convert the underpowered African Union
peacekeeping force into a somewhat more serious United Nations one
have stalled. The Bush administration's point man on the crisis,
Robert B. Zoellick, has left the State Department for Wall Street, and
a fragile agreement he negotiated has failed to improve anything for
Darfur's vulnerable people. It's good that, even as the world's
attention has shifted to Lebanon, President Bush met Thursday with
Salva Kiir Mayardit, the leader of the southern Sudanese rebel group
that fought the northern government for 21 years until a peace deal
last year. But nothing about Mr. Kiir's message is encouraging."

At least one media outlet is still giving space to the worst
humanitariaran crisis in the world. It seems like Lebanon has
dominated all the news and shocked reporters list off numbers like
500,000 refugees and 200 killed. What about the 2.5 MILLION refugees
in Chad/Sudan and the 400,000 DEAD?? Death and injustice is not
appropriate anywhere in the world, and I wish peace on the Middle
East...but c'mon people! The Middle East "crisis" is pithy compared
to the suffering and destruction in Darfur. And yet, you see no
shocked reporters standing in flak jackets reporting 'Live from the
Darfur Crisis, day 1,356" Instead, we rely on editorial pages to
carry the flag forward.