Now the president prays for Darfur

BY FRIDA GHITIS SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Posted on Friday, April 7, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/
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A president cannot choose what challenges history will throw in his path once he takes office. President George W. Bush did not expect the Sept. 11 attacks when he sought the White House, as he has told us, and he had no idea that large-scale massacres of civilians would start in Darfur a few years into his presidency. And yet, as leader of the world’s most powerful country, these challenges are his to face. The world’s worst humanitarian disaster continues to unfold during his watch. Fortunately, America’s determined and idealistic “Wartime President” cannot be deterred. With another 5, 000 people killed every week in Darfur, the president decided he would do something. On April 1, Mr. Bush picked up his pen, lifted a piece of embossed White House stationery, and wrote, “I send greetings to those observing the Week of Prayer and Action for Darfur.” There. Presidential action.

In fairness, the president himself probably didn’t write the letter. One of his aides no doubt came up with the words, “Our Nation is appalled by the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. We grieve for the men, women and children of Darfur, victims of atrocities....” The Week of Prayer—this week, April 2-9—was not his idea. It originated with a coalition of human rights and religious organizations, who claim to represent 130 million Americans. Their aim goes beyond prayer. And receiving “greetings” from the president is hardly their objective. Much like the people of Darfur, what they want is action. If they wanted words, even beautiful, stirring words, they would have long ago been thoroughly satisfied. The world’s leaders have already told us they are outraged, appalled, alarmed and deeply disturbed.

In the meantime, more than two million people have fled their homes, and hundreds of thousands have already been slaughtered. And the situation, according to the United Nations, is getting worse, not better. Despite all the meetings, all the ideas, and all the words, the killing continues, even as you read this, and even as the president adorns that pretty piece of paper with that signature capable of mobilizing armored divisions.

Armored divisions, of course, have not been mobilized by anyone, except the government of Sudan, providing crucial military support to the camel-riding militias, the Janjaweed, who are responsible for most of the atrocities. Military forces in neighboring Chad are also on alert as the strife spills across the border and threatens to become a much larger conflict. If systematic murder and ethnic cleansing are not enough to make the world take decisive action, a war in Chad certainly will. Chad, after all, has huge oil reserves.

For now, the international approach is to try to feed the millions who have fled to refugee camps, and to use the rhetorical flourishes of elegant diplomats as the loudest weapon in their pin-striped arsenal. American and European leaders hope to persuade the Sudanese government to let the UN take over a hapless African Union peacekeeping mission. How successful do you think that strategy has proven ?

This week, as the president hinted that he, too, would join in the prayers for Darfur, Sudan crassly refused entry to the UN’s humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, explaining that it would not be a good idea for a Scandinavian man to visit a Muslim country in the wake of Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Perhaps we can blame the cartoonists for the troubles in Darfur. Or, maybe we’ll just keep on praying.

Instead of praying—or, if you prefer, in addition to praying—the president should put down his pen and pick up the phone and place calls to London, Berlin, Brussels, and, yes, Paris. Because the UN will not impose an ultimatum—China would block forceful action—Washington should call for an urgent meeting of NATO. What could possibly be more urgent than stopping genocide?

Prayers alone, I’m afraid, will not stop systematic mass murder. That’s the lesson other presidents learned when genocide happened on their watch.

Frida Ghitis writes about world affairs. She is the author of The End of Revolution: a Changing World in the Age of Live Television.