Humanitarian crisis in Sudan

The New Zealand Herald

How much longer is the West going to stand by and look on while a humanitarian crisis involving hundreds of thousands of people unfolds in Darfur in Western Sudan? ...

To date, some 50,000 African villagers are thought to have died and up to a million displaced by the activities of government-backed Janjaweed Arab fighters.

As the rains now threaten, and disease and starvation take hold, a real humanitarian crisis is in the making.

Yet what is our response in the West?

A total of three helicopters provided by the Dutch and a few hundred French soldiers from France's military contingent in Chad diverted to ... the refugee camps. ...

That, and the millions in donations given by ordinary people to the aid agencies, seems to be the total response of the rich to the poor.

There are some promising developments.

The African Union has promised to send 2,000 troops to help secure the border for the refugees.

Libya next week will be opening a humanitarian corridor to move aid by land from the Libyan ports to the camps in Chad.

The Sudanese government is displaying some signs at least of withdrawing from confrontation with the U.N.

The next step is up to the United States and Europe. They have the logistical capacity as well as the resources. ... Let them now employ them.