More Tragedy, More Inaction

Yesterday, as Secretary General Ban Ki Moon congratulated China on the staging of a successful Olympics at the UN's noon briefing, the Sudanese government was staging something too. Yesterday Khartoum hit a new low as it unleashed its forces on a camp for internally displaced persons in South Darfur.

Kalma camp is home to 90,000 people displaced by government/janjaweed attacks upon their villages. Dozens of residents were killed, and more than a hundred were wounded, most of them women and children. Government forces are said to be massing outside the camp today, as terrified residents await a second assault.

We have listened again and again to the United Nations express 'concern' for the horrific acts perpetrated by the Sudanese government, but for more than five years those hollow words have done little to help the people of Darfur. The UNAMID (United Nations Mission in Darfur) force is incapable and perhaps unwilling to protect this anguished population. It is imperative that the international community stand up to the Sudanese regime and end the slaughter. World: where are you? Where will we draw the line?