Darfur in 'free fall' as deadly violence escalates: Egeland

[deadparrot]

NAIROBI (AFP) - Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur is in "free fall" and world powers must insist on deploying UN peacekeepers there to avert a complete collapse, a top United Nations official said.

Unless Khartoum drops objections to a UN peacekeeping force, most if not all foreign aid organizations are likely to pull out of Darfur, leaving its already devastated civilian population further exposed and at risk, the UN's humanitarian aid chief Jan Egeland said.

"In Darfur in many ways, we are in a free fall," Egeland told reporters in Nairobi. Without protection from peacekeepers, few agencies would keep staff in the region, he said.

"They are very close to leaving Darfur," he said. "If they leave, it will be like pulling the plug in a way and we will do no services on the ground and hundreds of thousands will have absolutely no assistance."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/sudandarfurun

[Lurking Dem]

1. 300,000 dead and for what?

This is madness. If aid organizations pull out, what then?

[aquart]

4. Death.

But Israel didn't do it, so nobody cares.

[applegrove]

2. Join the Demonstration

www.savedarfur.com

[Lurking Dem]

3. I hope that press coverage

is intense and turnout is huge.

[applegrove]

11. People are all going through rought times. Hard to know if they

have the capacity to look beyond their own borders and involve themselves in something even more depressing.

[Yupster]

5. Who can solve this one?

It can't be the US.

If we send people down there, the Muslim militias will just make us a target and members of the Muslim Brotherhood will stream south from Egypt to take up the fight against us.

Unfortunately I see Chad as the next country to fall to the militias in pick-ups. I don't think their army has a chance against the Muslim militias operating in the Sudan and already raiding into Chad. I know we are sending them lots of aid and arms right now, but I don't think they have a chance.

[bamacrat]

6. Can anyone please explain why we're doing nothing?

We are the richest most "powerful" country in the world and we would rather invade a somewhat peaceful country just cause, and let 300,000 people be slaughtered just cause. This is the war we need to be fighting.

[Imajika]

8. This is really the UN's fault...

The US has been pushing for action in Darfur. The UN has been absolutely useless here in nearly every way imaginable.

Nothing will be done in the Sudan because China and Russia won't go along. So, we either ignore the UN and find a "coalition of the willing", or sit and watch the UN do nothing.

I rather suspect the UN won't ever lift a finger to seriously help stop the slaughter in Darfur.

[Yupster]

9. You want to put US troops in another

fundamentalist Islamic country.

I don't think there's anything the US can do about this one. US troops will just become targets and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood can supply all the martyrs necessary to chase us away from there.

Not everything can be our job. This one we'd just make worse.

[genie_weenie]

12. UBL is hoping we go in

Whether or not one believes the motives would be noble. This would be the 3rd stike rule for the US, proving we are at War with all Muslims worldwide. And you are correct about the Muslim Brotherhood.

[jymcginley]

7. THE ONLY HOPE FOR DARFUR: WE-THE-PEOPLE. Duh.

It is said that the mark of truly being “crazy” is expecting
different results from doing the same thing over and over
and….  Ok, we needed to try some new approaches, hoping we
could find a new formula for mass social change (stopping
Genocide has NEVER been done.); looking for one that would be
comfortable, convenient, safe, executed from our computer
terminal / phone / TV or office in some combination. The
variations we’ve tried are:  * Blame (Bush, UN, EU…) , *
Emails, letters, postcards…,* Letting the Nonprofits do it, *
Divestment.  And the results are in. WE ARE NOT, STOPPING THE
GENOCIDE!

You mean that the answer for Darfur is the same answer we
found for…* Ending the Vietnam War, * Gaining Civil Rights in
the US, * Gaining Women the right to Vote in the US, * Ending
apartheid in South Africa, * Throwing off the British
oppression at our start....?

Yup.  No one else, nothing else can stop it, can save
4,000,000 in Concentration Camps in Sudan and Chad. The buck
stops with WE-THE-PEOPLE.  Let’s stop talking and start -
marching, demonstrating, sitting-in, hunger striking….

The next step is September 17th (SaveDarfur.org;
DayForDarfur.org).   BUT, then we need to be ready on
SEPTEMBER 18th, 19th… AS LONG AS IT TAKES, WHATEVER IT TAKES. 

Jay McGinley, [e-mail]; Day 105 24/7 DC VIGIL; Day 35
HUNGER STRIKE (54 days so far this summer, with breaks);
ARRESTED Sept 9th at White House with 29 others from Africa
Action;  http://wwww.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com

[Supersedeas]

10. But did ya hear that Condi Rice has romantic interest--hmm hmm hmm

[humbled_opinion]

13. George Clooney on today saying that this is the

Holocaust of our times. The aid workers will leave and millions will die starting 01OCT. Will Brush do some uniting on this issue?