It’s genocide: why won’t the UN say so?
He is one of the very few I have read who has told us what is really happening in that forsaken corner of Africa.
The fat-cat diplomats at the UN security council have debated their way in and around this topic for months without reaching any conclusions.
They cannot even agree on whether or not the systematic and organised murder of 60,000 people of one ethnic group in Darfur over the past 18 months is genocide.
This is utter nonsense - they all know in their heart of hearts that it is genocide but, to their eternal shame, they have chosen to listen to the voice of big business and others with vested interests in the region rather than the cries for help from the women and children who are being attacked, raped and murdered in the wretched camps.
The UN has thus abandoned its former role as a force for peace and the protector of the oppressed.
This is not only bad news for the people of Darfur who have effectively been abandoned to their fate, but it also means that, in the future, tyrants and dictators can do their evil worst with impunity.
Brian Cowen, in his last speech to the UN as Foreign Minister, severely criticised the security council for their failure in Darfur and urged them to reconsider their response.
Mr Cowen is to be congratulated on his stance and I would encourage his successor, Dermot Ahern, to take up the baton on behalf of the victims of Darfur. Ireland’s may be a small voice in the international community but it is one that is highly regarded. We have a moral duty to use that voice now.
John O’Shea
GOAL
PO Box 19
Dun Laoghaire
Co Dublin
