Spreading Disaster by Ignoring It

The Sudanese genocide in Darfur is now spilling over the borders into Chad. That country is becoming desolate, unstable, and likely to collapse.

And what are we doing, as this happens? We are calling on "all parties" to quit the violence. That's like telling the chickens to quit fighting the fox.

I quote Nicholas Kristoff:

The fighting in Chad, including a battle in the capital, Ndjamena, that reportedly killed 350 people on Thursday, is nominally between the government and rebels. But make no mistake: those "rebels" are simply a proxy force of Sudan, made up in part by the Sudanese janjaweed militias that orchestrated the killing of several black African tribes in Darfur.

The Chadian rebels operate from a base that journalists have visited in Sudan. The rebels' guns, vehicles and uniforms come from the Sudanese government.

Their leader, Mohamed Nour, was handpicked by Sudan to lead this invading force. Sudan's vice president, Ali Osman Taha, has visited Mr. Nour at his base. And the "rebels" often drop by the town of Geneina, where everybody sees that they include some Chadians but also many Sudanese janjaweed fighters.

I know it's easy to say, "But do you have any actual ideas?"

Here are a few - none of them mine to start with, but all of them good.

Interdict the airspace - stop Sudanese warplanes.

Get the UN involved. Make sure Arab/Muslim countries get involved; this is Muslim on Muslim violence, after all; the black Sudanese in the South are just non-Arab, and Muslims need to stand up and say that's not what they're about.

And for crying out loud - feed them.