The Drug That Chose Me

There is an old song by k.d. lang, "My Last Cigarette," with the line, "sometimes your drug chooses you... " I have been thinking the same applies to passions and causes. Why are some of us compelled to work in a food kitchen while others campaign tirelessly for the rights of the spotted owl? Obviously my concern with Darfur and that particular genocide comes under this category -- in my lifetime I have been aware of, but disconnected from, genocide in Cambodia, the Balkans, Rwanda, Iraq....perhaps Darfur chose me....

One day it may happen that we wake up and feel we must act, and naturally we want others to act too. We hope to influence others to see the way we see, feel what we feel, give where we give and help as we wish to help. Every cause worth its salt recognizes this and acquires or solicits celebrity and influential spokespeople. Lobbyists might be hired, politicians pick their issues, journalists pick their battle cries. Americans put on their bumper stickers (well I do) and as a result we all hope to sleep better at night, perhaps having "done something." Sometimes we are collectively bombarded as with the tsunami...sometimes a creeping consciousness occurs and grows.

So, back to my drug....two of the great writers and champions of this cause have written about it today. Samantha Powers in the New Yorker and Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times. What can I add to this? First I can urge readers of the Huffington Post to check out both pieces, they are good. Secondly I can add that the situation in Darfur has not improved over the last year, it has worsened. Thirdly, I can add my perspective.

Kristof describes steady acts of rape and sexual violence against women. I had an email from a friend in the field this week confirming the same, with the added comment that December 1st will mark the start of "the season " for FGM (female genital mutilation). Now you know too. I confess I had no idea there was a season, but most rituals have a season so it makes sense. Politically the situation in Darfur and Chad is worse than when I was there six months and three weeks ago respectively. Idriss Deby, President of Chad, is rumored to be ill. When I was there soldiers deserted the local garrison, defecting across the border to join rebel groups. A Chadian colleague was beaten and bludgeoned last week. A friend who has lived and worked in this part of Africa for 25 years confirmed the imminent collapse of order in Chad and mentioned that the "Somalian model" is a distinct possibility there. It turns out that he is referring to a lawless model with no central government and bands of armed militia controlling parts of the country (and piracy at sea -- hence the attack on the Seabourn Spirit off the coast a couple of weeks ago). Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, on a recent visit to Sudan commented "it is a tribal war and frankly I don't think foreign forces ought to get themselves in the middle of a tribal war." Apparently he won't be getting involved in Iraq then.

So what can be done? When I left Sudan six months ago, everyone on the ground asked me to deliver the message to send more African Union troops. Some came, too few, too late, underfunded and underfed and now they have been targeted for violence too. Samantha Powers argues for more help from the UN, via countries with veteran peacekeeping forces such as Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey and Jordan. She argues, I think rightly, that leaving 2 million Muslims in refugee camps indefinitely threatens our security as well as their safety, for the camps risk becoming breeding grounds for terrorists. Indeed when I was in Sudan I was told there are Al Qaeda cells in Darfur. Finally Powers also mentions "the ghastly coincidence of timing" that will give control of the Presidency of the African Union to Sudan in January. I can hardly imagine what that might unfurl.

So what can you and I do? Join the Save Darfur Coalition, support advocacy groups, keep an open mind and remember that many of these refugees and internally displaced in Sudan were once living contented and productive middle-class lives until things changed. Bad stuff can happen anywhere. Even here in the US of A where there are no tribes. Right, Secretary Zoellick?