Darfur this week 11/22/2005

This week in Sudan

The U.S. Senate passed the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (S. 1462) last Friday, November 18. It is now up to the House of Representatives to move their version of the bill (H.R. 3127) when they return from Thanksgiving recess on December 6th.

The victory in Congress comes as a growing chorus of voices demanding stronger U.S. action against the Sudanese government is getting louder. New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof spent much of last week in Darfur, and upon his return the Times published two powerful columns regarding his trip. The first deals with the genocide in a larger context, while the second discusses the use of mass rape as a weapon of ethnic cleansing.

The week also saw an opinion piece published in the Washington Times calling for a much tougher U.S. stance towards the Sudanese government, and an editorial published in the Los Angeles Times raising the possibility of transforming the African Union force in Darfur into a United Nations force. The increased coverage of the crisis in Darfur is a promising development in raising its profile on a national level.

Meanwhile in Darfur, recent events have proved far less promising. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan this week warned that the situation on the ground was becoming increasingly unstable. That situation will not be helped by the postponement of the 7th round of peace talks originally scheduled to resume this week. Whenever the peace talks do resume, their success will largely depend on the ability of the rebel groups to repair their internal rifts and negotiate with a common voice.

For additional information on any of these stories, either click on the links embedded in the above paragraphs, or scroll to a list of the articles below. In addition, a more complete list of articles on Darfur is available below, and on our website, updated daily. You may also request daily email news updates with the days top articles by emailing info@SaveDarfur.org.