Darfur

After recent discussions with a friend about the Rwanda conflict of 1994, I decided to look a little deeper. We had both seen the movie "Hotel Rwanda". We wanted to find out why the UN was a mere spectator. A human rights watch report from 1999 details some of the facts leading up to the conflict. Here is a brief writeup about it. Its saddening to see that capitalism and its hold on the governments of the west (mainly France and the US in this case, which incidentally are permanent members of the security council) is what prevented the UN from intervening. They traded lives for money. 800 thousand people died, and everyone watched. Darfur in western Sudan is a where genocide of the proportions of Rwanda is happening today. 180 thousand people have already died since the conflict began in 2003. However this time the UN seems to be a little more involved, a little late, but involved nevertheless. Probably because this time around the permanent members of the security council don't have any ties with the Sudanese government? Its just sad that innocent civilians are left to die with no support from the rest of the world. The structure and functioning of the UN needs to be rectified. In its current form it is largely a failed system. If you would like to learn more about the conflict - links to the Sudan crisis.