Remember, children are dying. And not easy deaths—brutal deaths. They are watching their mothers' heads being hacked off and their fathers being gunned down by strangers. They watch in horror and terror, until they themselves are attacked—dying in uncomprehending terror. Stop reading, and you're just part of the problem. But you can be part of the solution.
They are dying in Darfur, Sudan. A genocide is happening, though the leaders of the world won’t call it such. Exactly how many have died is unknown. The UN estimates that at least 70,000 perished in the six month period of its study. Experts, analyzing the entire period of the conflict, place the number in the hundreds of thousands. It is estimated that up to ten thousand people are dying each month.
Why won’t the UN do something? Money. The UN Security Council has so far refused to designate the atrocities in Darfur a “genocide.” That’s because doing so would require them, by their own charter, to take action. The UN’s Convention Against Genocide declares genocide a crime under international law and dictates that the UN “take measures to prevent and punish any acts of genocide committed.” Any party to the convention may “call upon the United Nations to act to prevent or punish acts of genocide.”
But none have done so. Why? The UN Security Council members aremaking money off the very Sudanese government perpetrating these horrific acts. China, with its increasing desperate need for oil, has invested heavily in Sudan via their national oil company. They hope Sudan will become one of their primary external suppliers of oil. Russia is making money by selling arms to the parties perpetrating the genocide. And France’s oil giant TotalFinaElf also has investments in Sudan, via the Khartoum regime. Predictably, the worst slaughters are taking place in Darfur, where large oil reserves were recently discovered, added fuel to the ethnic rivalries already burning there.
In September of 2004, then US Secretary of State Colin Powell openly declared the atrocities in Darfur a genocide. The US has urged action in the United Nations, and currently bans US companies from doing business directly with Sudan. At the same time, a lead perpetrator of the violence, General Salah Abdallah Gosh, has reportedly been brought by private jet to the United States to consult with CIA officials. His secret police organization, Mukhabarat, has 
cooperated with US intelligence officials in intelligence investigations and operations. So, while the US publicly condemns the atrocities in Darfur, the administration cozies up with the very men directing the violence.
A small 2,300-strong peacekeeping force of African Union (AU) soldiers was sent into Sudan in 2004. The force was woefully inadequate, though. Professor Eric Reeves of Smith College, who has become a recognized expert on the situation in Sudan, reported
“Though Western assistance (including provision of military/logistical contractors) to the AU has been less than fully robust or aggressive, the last month of painfully slow deployment is largely the responsibility of the African Union itself. Months after securing (highly limited) terms of deployment from Khartoum, there are still fewer than 1,300 AU personnel in the field, and not nearly enough equipment, especially transport and communications gear. Most significantly, the AU has no peacekeeping mandate: it is meaningfully charged only with monitoring violations of the cease-fire by parties to the cease-fire…”
The most recent actions by the UN will raise the number of AU troops to 7700. But, thanks to resistance from the Khartoum regime and the reluctance of China and Russia to rock the boat, even these troops are not being sent to western Darfur where most of the violence is taking place. The Sudanese government has strongly resisted and restricted AU troops. The AU troops to date have been woefully ineffective. They provide the convenient appearance of action, without any guarantee of meaningful change or an end to the slaughter.
What’s really needed? The UN Security Council must be pressed to invoke Chapter 7, calling the atrocities in Darfur a genocide, authorize a multinational intervention force to go into Darfur, and impose an arms embargo. Only if the Security Council declares a genocide will they be compelled and required to stop the killing.
You can make a difference. Vote your money. Follow the money trail for this issue to see how you can force action on the issue.