U.N. force is overdue to heal wounds in Darfur

An inkling of good news but mostly more of the same bad news of murder, pillaging, rape and other gruesome atrocities have emanated from the desperate Darfur region of Sudan over the past week.
In what many international observers call the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet, more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up three years ago against the Arab-led government in Darfur, the vast dry area of western Sudan that is about the size of Texas.
The rebel tribesmen took up arms against what they saw as decades of neglect and discrimination by the Khartoum government. Peace accords signed by the Sudan leaders and one rebel group last May have been ignored, and the genocide rages on.
Prosecutions planned
Amid this shameful scenario emerged a flicker of hope last Thursday when the International Criminal Court at The Hague announced it is close to launching prosecutions against war-crime suspects in Darfur.
Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said investigators have proof of crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, rape, torture, deliberate attacks on civilians, persecution and forcible expulsions. Unfortunately, no suspects' names have been released, and no firm timetable for prosecution has been set.
That's discouraging, particularly after hearing the announcement last Wednesday from U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland. He declared a "dramatic deterioration" in Darfur, where 4 million Sudanese desperately need help as newly rearmed Arab militias and rebels escalate attacks and resume looting and burning villages.
Then last Friday, Praveen Randhawa, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said an assault earlier this month in the Darfur town of Sirba was "a deliberate and unprovoked attack by government forces against innocent civilians," which confirms what many already knew: The Khartoum government is an accomplice to the crimes against humanity.
A Human Rights Watch report accused the government of overseeing or directly participating in "massacres, summary executions of civilians -- including women and children" as well as "burnings of towns and villages and the forcible depopulation of wide swaths of land" in Darfur. It's no wonder then that Sudan President Omar al-Bashir and his administration have been negligent in aggressively acting to stop the madness.
What's needed?
Clearly, the crisis in Darfur is grave. Clearly, too much time and too many lives already have been wasted. Clearly, the Bush administration and the world community cannot continue to stand idly by and watch the devastation worsen even further.
Humanitarian activists are calling for the United Nations to send a force of about 20,000 troops to the region. Those troops, in addition to the African Union units already in Darfur, could be sufficiently strong to make a meaningful difference to end the bloodbath, they argue.
The international community must open its eyes to the most stark human-rights abuses on the globe and then take meaningful action. Swift dispatch of U.N. forces would represent a promising start to that end.