"Despite the strong words and condemnations from Bush, Blair and others," writes Mia Farrow in an email, "despite their determination and declarations that genocide is occurring in Darfur; despite the fact that these nations signed the Genocide Convention Act of 1946, all the world could only cough up just 400 troops from four nations." Ms Farrow has just returned from the Sudan/Chad border – her third visit to the area facing conflict, genocide and war. As I wrote in my blog "Darfur Emergency", an already terrible situation is worsening daily. Even with American and British government support there is a political stand-off in the UN Security Council on whether to deliver on the Chapter 7 Mandate, which was passed on August 31, 2006 .

The UN has been unable to deploy its forces as Khartoum's government has rejected the resolution on the grounds that the deployment of foreign troops on Sudanese territory "violates Sudanese sovereignty", and is also an attempt to re-colonise Sudan. The international community is in a deadlock of ongoing negotiations while the shocking stories of murder, rape and human rights violations continue to be broadcast around the world. China, as chief oil exporter and arms supplier, and Russia as a prime investor and arms supplier to the Sudanese government, have created a split in the UN and a never-ending circle of rhetoric about whether to send in UN peacekeepers.

Last month, the Sudanese government opened their Embassy in China (the largest in any country) and last month, the Chinese government blocked UN intervention in Sudan. The influence of China and Russia on smaller UN voting nations cannot be overlooked. The mounting pressure from the US and British governments prompted an agreement for the African Union to have a beefed-up presence in the region with the support of the United Nations – a "hybrid force", but so far nothing has happened, and there is little evidence that even a 17,000-strong African Union force will have any real effect on the ground. Every day, the situation worsens. The Chapter 7 mandates calls for UN Intervention with a minimum of a 20,000 UN peacekeepers force and a no-fly zone for the Sudanese.

"We are defined in this moment by our reaction to this genocide, which has now reached Chad and the Central African Republic," said Farrow in a recent BBC interview. "We need to see the implementation of a UN peacekeeping force with the capability to provide adequate security for the vulnerable and suffering population."


Here are some recent posts to keep you up to date on this complex situation.

From Washington Post
November 22, 2006; 3:17 PM
Written by Evelyn Leopold

"The next weeks may be make or break for our lifeline to more than three million people," Jan Egeland (UN emergency relief coordinator) said. "This period may well be the last opportunity for this council, the Government of Sudan, the African Union, the rebels, and all of us to avert a humanitarian disaster of much larger proportions than even the one we so far have witnessed in Darfur."

Some four million people need emergency aid compared to one million two years ago. But relief convoys can only reach about three million people in their $1 billion aid effort, he said.


From International Herald Tribune:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/
11/19/africa/AF_GEN_Sudan_Darfur.php

On Saturday, UN chief of humanitarian affairs Jan Egeland said he had been barred by Sudanese authorities from visiting several of the areas where fighting is now reported.

"The government is arming Arab militias more than ever before," Egeland said in an AP interview. He warned that the crisis "still has the potential of becoming infinitely worse".

The Sudanese Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs said that Egeland was spreading "lies and false accusations against the Sudan".


From Medicins Sans Frontier
http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/
content/
(MSF), one of the main health service providers in the Darfur region of Sudan over the past 30 months, has now drastically reduced its medical-humanitarian activities because it has become too dangerous for our staff to work in some areas.

We have completely withdrawn from a number of regions, including Korma, North Darfur and Kutrum in the Djebel Mara - a particularly difficult departure given an outbreak of cholera, a disease that demands urgent treatment to prevent death. We have reduced activities in many other parts of Darfur because of a number of targeted security incidents against aid workers.

In the last three months, 12 aid workers have been killed and dozens more assaulted, beaten and harassed. MSF alone has had over 40 serious security incidents since the beginning of the year.

The number of people receiving assistance is falling and there is a dramatic curtailment of our ability to assess people outside the established camps.

Rowan Gillies, International President MSF