Nick Kristof has seen the genocide in Darfur, and has the pictures to prove it. The text is equally moving:
These are just four photos in a secret archive of thousands of photos and reports that document the genocide under way in Darfur. The materials were gathered by African Union monitors, who are just about the only people able to travel widely in that part of Sudan.
This African Union archive is classified, but it was shared with me by someone who believes that Americans will be stirred if they can see the consequences of their complacency.
The photo at the upper left was taken in the village of Hamada on Jan. 15, right after a Sudanese government-backed militia, the janjaweed, attacked it and killed 107 people. One of them was this little boy. I’m not showing the photo of his older brother, about 5 years old, who lay beside him because the brother had been beaten so badly that nothing was left of his face. And alongside the two boys was the corpse of their mother.
Whatever happened to “never again?”
The US, to be taken seriously when we speak of equal rights in the Arab world, must do more.
Germany, the country responsible for industrialized genocide, needs to lead the moral charge.
The French, who can’t stop mucking about in West Africa, should meddle someplace where they might do a little good.
Britain, former co-administrator (with Egypt) of Sudan, has enough local expertise to help.
The UN needs to lead, follow, or get out of the way.
And Arabs, the ones most responsible for this racist war, need to be treated more like responsible grownups by the West, and less like wogs who just don’t know any better.
UPDATE: Related stuff from Claudia Rosett.
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