The UN Condemns
That bastion of human rights, that world-assembly of diplomats and functionaries dedicated to the betterment of mankind in our so imperfect world has pinpointed the agent responsible for unmitigated carnage and has condemned its inexcusable behaviour. Israel, seeking to protect itself from the deadly assaults of its eternally unfriendly neighbours is guilty of mass murder on a grand scale, of undeniable civic infrastructure destruction leaving a country reeling and in ruin.No mention of the huge population of Israelis living in northern Israel who had to be evacuated, who were left homeless, who spent the duration of the war in underground shelters, nor those Israelis, both Jewish and Arab who lost their lives in rocket attacks, nor mention of the loss of huge swaths of acreage burned to a crisp, forests which had taken generations to grow and prosper, nor hospitals, schools, civic buildings, homes destroyed in rocket attacks.
Lebanon, in its helpless misery calls to the world for assistance, for funds for reconstruction, and the world responds, the United Nations hears and heeds. This same Lebanon which claims it had no hand in assaulting Israel, yet which refuses to repudiate the agent which did, the Islamist Hand of God Jew-haters, and which refuses also to agree to try to disarm that very entity which caused its current plight.
Israel, defending itself as best it can, taking steps to protect its vulnerable population surrounded by states disinterested in living in peace, some dedicated utterly to its ultimate destruction, is left to fend for itself. Israel will be taxed internally with raising needed funds for reconstruction, for assisting those left homeless, for Israel knows that to look elsewhere than within itself and its diaspora is futile.
Is this a world turned upside-down, inside-out, tangled in its apprehensions, incapable of recognizing reality, driven by credulous stupidity, totally disinterested in what is truly happening in the world all of humankind inhabits? It must be, it truly must be.
The government of Sudan is still aiding and abetting, some would state with conviction even initiated a genocide against its black Muslim population. Despite the fact that over three hundred thousand people have been murdered by Arab horsemen (Janjaweed) unleashed on poor black farmers by the Sudanese government, that over two million people are homeless, that thousands upon thousands of women and children have been raped, nothing has been done to stop the misery, the carnage.
Time and again world opinion has turned with brief concern to the situation and expressed its outrage. Time and again the United Nations has politely asked the Sudanese government to kindly do something to halt the murders, displacements, rapes. A tentative peace agreement was signed months ago, but never implemented. The Africa Union peacekeepers put in place to oversee the situation and attempt to ameliorate it, admits it is inadequately funded, armed, and prepared, and has asked the United Nations to intervene with a UN-mandated force.
Instead, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Sudanese president insists Khartoum should be allowed to settle the Darfur crisis on its own. In the letter sent to the UN Security Council, Mr. Bashir urged the Security Council "to be patient and not to be in a hurry to adopt a new resolution [on Darfur], and to allow the government of Sudan to resolve hesitation and to concentrate on implementing the [Darfur] peace agreement...and to provide support to the forces of the African Union".Is this to be believed? A disaster of such huge proportions, the suffering of untold thousands, millions of poor black farmers, and nothing is done, mere words being mouthed time and again, and Sudan insisting on its right to settle such internal matters as and when it sees fit. Where are the words of astouned condemnation from human rights groups? Where is the righteous indignation and brave determination of the United Nations?
Even in the camps set up to assist, support and protect the millions of refugees their enemies breach the barriers and continue assaulting and raping women and girls. In recent weeks nine humanitarian aid workers and two African Union peacekeepers have been killed. Aid organizations are planning to withdraw from the area in justifiable fear for their workers' lives.
Britain and the United States have been insisting that the United Nations send up to 18,000 UN peacekeepers to Darfur, presenting a draft resolution toward that end. And while the Security Council held closed-door talks on that draft, Sudan declined an "invitation" to send high level officials to the deliberations due to resume next week in New York.
In all of this where is the compassion of other Muslim countries? Where are their outcries, their protests against the murderous regime which has been practising its version of genocide against a helpless population? Why is the United Nations, in this particular instance, so loath to act with deliberation and forcefulness?
Might it be that in condemning Israel it is assured that Israel, though fighting a war it did not start, has taken steps to try to limit as much as possible the deaths that result from its attacks, and it takes seriously the censure of outsiders, while at the same time resolving to look after its own interests, knowing no one else will.
Might it be that in condemning Sudan, a Muslim country acting with complete disregard for humanity and clear impunity as it cannot take seriously any condemnation by an outside entity calling on it to express human compassion for others, the United Nations knows it will be ignored.
This is the kind of double standard that does no one any good, least of all an organization whose purpose is to treat all with complete neutrality in the expectation that its intervention in instances of dire necessity will be respected and honoured.
posted by Pieface @ Friday, August 25, 2006
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