The Forgotten People in Africa

April 07, 2009

By Nat Hentoff

After Sudan's Adolf Hitler, Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, expelled 13 international humanitarian organizations from Darfur, with the rest to follow within the year, four black African Muslim children - mourned by what is left of their families at the Shangil Tobaya refugee camp - died of malnutrition in late March. Their official death notices will not appear in American newspapers.

As a memorial, I give you the names and ages of the dead children, as provided by the rebel Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (Sudan Tribune, March 24): Abdel-Latif Hassan Gar El-Nabi, 7 months old; Ahmed Musa, 7 months old; Munir Mohamed Ibrahim, 9 months old; Esam Babiker Yacoub, 3 years old.

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I can't help by being burdened by what has happened in Sudan, specifically Darfur.

I called my Senators offices late last year to discuss my concerns. In talking with a then Senator Salazar's staffer, he explained that he had some talking points that he could recite to me, but that these points would not satisfy me.

I have always been perplexed as to why we could intervene in southeastern Europe to stop the slaughter of European Muslims, but we could not muster the courage to stop the slaughter of Christian blacks in Sudan. Do these people not matter as much? Is it a matter of religion, location, or race? Why has our only response from the highest levels of our government either been talking points or silence when it comes to Sudan.

As per the aforementioned article, the death is not limited to Christians. Death in Darfur has become something that is acceptable to us by now. I suppose the entire continent of Africa is something so remote and distant for most of us that these concerns don't win or lose elections here in the States.

I think if we follow the money we may begin to understand the inaction by our government, and so many others. Death and destruction are consuming the people of Darfur, and the best thing the governments of this world can come up with is an arrest warrant for the leader of the genocide. The value of life in Darfur(some reports indicate as many as 7 million people live in this area) must be less than the value of life in Kosovo(1.8 million population)...................... Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir has traveled outside his country several times with no attempted arrest. If this International warrant had any teeth or resolve we would send a team to his country and remove him to stand court in Europe for his crimes. Meanwhile, as we stand by, people continue to die, and the silence is truly deafening for some.............