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International community has failed Sudan
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     The international community has failed to protect the people of Darfur from atrocities committed by the Sudanese government, a report claimed last week. It estimates that two years after the crisis in Darfur started, 300 000 people have died and 2.5 million people need humanitarian assistance, a figure likely to rise to four million this year.

    The report, published by the House of Commons International Development Committee, criticises the way that British and other negotiators downplayed the atrocities in western Sudan to try to achieve peace in the south: "The international community prioritised progress on the north-south peace process over the crisis in Darfur. This was misguided and unnecessary and had predictable, deadly, consequences for Darfur. A more holistic approach to the problems of Sudan was possible, preferable, and would have provided a more secure basis for building a sustainable country-wide peace."

    "The crisis in Darfur is a tragedy. More than two million people have had to flee their homes. Hundreds of thousands have died. The world抯 failure to protect the people of Darfur from the atrocities committed against them by their own government is a scandal," said Tony Baldry, MP and chairman of the committee.

    Mr Baldry warned, "In its dealings with Sudan, the international community must ensure that whilst it supports the north-south peace process generously, its support to the regime in Khartoum is strictly and clearly conditional on a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Darfur."

    The committee also stressed, "The efforts of the African Union (AU) to end the crisis in Darfur are extremely welcome. But the African Union Mission needs a stronger mandate and more troops. There must be a clear strategy to ensure its success, backed up by generous international support. The AU must not become an excuse for inaction by others."

    The committee was particularly critical of the impasse at the United Nations Security Council, although last week the council finally passed motions authorising a 10 700 strong peace keeping mission for southern Sudan, threatening targeted sanctions, and referring Darfur to the International Criminal Court.

    The report concludes, "The international community must now fulfil its responsibility to protect the people of Darfur. Attacked by the government which is meant to protect them, the people of Darfur, whom we have collectively and demonstrably failed, deserve no less. We demand that there is action now."

    Mr Baldry maintains, "Crises such as Darfur require the world to respond collectively and effectively. Passing the buck will not do. After the genocide in Rwanda, the world said 憂ever again.?President Bush said that genocide would not be allowed to happen 憃n his watch.?These words should mean something."(Peter Moszynski)