Send In The Troops

The United Nations passed a resolution in the Fall of 2006 to send UN troops into Darfur in order to assist the African Union troops in appeasing the acts of genocide. But they were not deployed. The reason behind it is shocking and totally incongruous to the entire situation. The deployment of the troops was brought to a standstill for the simple reason that the Sudanese government did not express its consent. It did not want UN troops disrupting their calculated torture and slaughter of innocents. And the shocking thing is that their discontent to the troops actually has prevented the troops for entering into Sudan.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide has stated that the UN can take appropriate actions to prevent and stop genocide. What I do not get is why the UN needs the consent of the Sudanese government, which by the way is responsible for slaughtering its own people, to stop the genocide. The obvious response to the United Nation’s proposal by the Sudanese government would have been negative. I believe that the genocide in Darfur is still going on because of this minor problem. This failure has shown to the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government that the UN is weaker and taken the element of fear out. There is no international pressure as they know that they have the upper hand. This absence of fear, I believe, has led to the continual of genocide in Darfur. The Sudanese government has nothing to fear, nothing to govern it, so it is continuing to slaughter thousands.

If the UN gets its troops into Darfur, it will definitely bring a sense of security to the general people and will bring fear in the Janjaweed and ultimately, the Sudanese government. The first step in stopping the Genocide should have been the deployment of troops in Darfur. This would have shown the Sudanese government that the international community does know and care about what is going on in Darfur and they don’t like it and they’ll do whatever it takes to stop it. Instead, the failure of this action has shown the inferiority of the UN and the superiority of the Sudanese government.

It is never too late to get troops into Darfur and stop the genocide. This is the most powerful step that can be taken.