Darfur and Lebanon: a morality tale

IN his letter headlined ‘Slaughter in Sudan: UN stands idly by’ (Irish Examiner, September 13), John O’Shea drew attention to the estimated 400,000 lives lost in Darfur and “the sheer indifference of the UN security council to the plight of the vulnerable millions of innocent people” there.

This contrasts starkly with the UN’s almost obsessive concern with the recent five-week conflict in Lebanon in which about 1,000 died.

While I agree with Mr O’Shea that any loss of innocent life is terrible, it is probable that the majority of the 1,000 dead were either Hezbollah fighters who were only described as civilians because, contrary to the Geneva conventions, they did not wear military uniform, or their sympathisers who provided a human shield for their activities.

Mr O’Shea is absolutely correct that “the Janjaweed raid and kill with impunity; the suffering of the victims intensifies as each day passes”, but this fact will not sit well with those who studiously avoid even the suspicion of Islamophobia since it is the direct result of the activities of the Sudanese government and its allies, the Arab Janjaweed militias. If only these atrocities could be attributed to the ‘Zionist entity’, such right (or should one say left) thinking people would be far more vociferous in their protests and international action would speedily follow.

Selective morality?

Martin D Stern

7 Hanover Gardens

Salford M7 4FQ

England