Demagogue

Eric Reeves takes issue with Kofi Annan's remarks during the recent UN commemoration of the Holocaust in light of Annan's and the UN's failure to act on Darfur

Moreover, "nothing" also comes perilously close to defining what the international community is providing in the way of means for halting current genocide in Darfur. Though aid organizations continue heroically to confront the challenges of the world's greatest humanitarian crisis, insecurity has severely attenuated the reach and efficacy of assistance. This is insecurity orchestrated by Khartoum, with a clear understanding of its implications for humanitarian access and transport. This is insecurity that deliberately impedes humanitarian aid delivery and is fully consistent with Khartoum's larger genocidal ambitions in Darfur as revealed by almost two years of savagely destructive counter-insurgency warfare.

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You are right, Mr. Secretary General: "At this moment, terrible things are happening today in Darfur, Sudan." And it is no less true today than in the late 18th century: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." But evil is triumphing in Darfur---the evidence is everywhere.

Yesterday, the WHO reported that things seemed to be getting better in Darfur. Today, Reuters reports

Renewed fighting in Sudan's Darfur region may have killed up to 105 civilians and displaced more than 9,000 last week, the United Nations said Wednesday.

"It has been confirmed that the village of Hamada was nearly totally destroyed and that up to 105 civilians may have been killed, with the majority of victims being women and children," U.N. spokesman George Somerwill told a news conference.

Oh, and three Sudanese aid workers working for Adventist Development and Relief Agency International were abducted at gunpoint.

Finally, Mother Jones has an interview with Romeo Dallaire and another with the International Crisis Group's John Prendergast.