African heads of state must do more to save Darfur

Africa has endured a tortured history, and continues to persevere under the burden of political instability and religious, racial, and ethnic strife.
Over a decade ago, nearly one million Rwandans were murdered over a three month period. Today, Rwanda struggles to come to terms with this painful history.
It is said of the Jewish Holocaust that “the world slept and did not know.” Today, there is, perhaps, nowhere on earth where the crime of genocide is more glaring than in Darfur, Sudan.

In that region, domestic bigotry in juxtaposition with foreign multinational oil interests has served to create a humanitarian emergency of epic proportion.
The world community has responded to this crisis, albeit belatedly; however, much more needs to be done to address a most tragic situation. When President Bush first declared that what was happening in Sudan was genocide, one African president left his country and traveled to America to “correct Bush” and instruct him that what was happening was rebellion against the government of Sudan! As hundreds of thousands perish in Darfur, it is African nations and their leaders, this time that have become silent spectators.

The African Union must play a far more central role in bringing about a suitable solution to the crisis in the Darfur region. By galvanizing their resources, African nations will realise the Bantu maxim - a human is human because of other humans - that represents the African communal viewpoint.

Prof. Chinua Achebe,
author of Things Fall Apart