GENOCIDE IN DARFUR CAN BE STOPPED

by Andrew McGregor

LOS ANGELES--Author and former State Department official John Prendergast gave a speech at USC’s law school laying out a three-point plan to halt the genocide in Darfur that does not military intervention.

Speaking to a packed auditorium, Prendergast noted that, "between 1 and 500 thousand people have died, but we don’t know exactly because we don’t care enough to know." He later emphasized that, "the crisis is intensifying."

According to Prendergast, "they are starving hundreds of thousands of people to death, and the only defense for this is humanitarian aid." However, the aid agencies are suffering from similar measures that were enacted against the people of Darfur.

European sponsored aid agencies in neighboring Chad are being coerced to withdrawal as the conflict pours over the border. “The Female European employees have been targeted, they attacked them and sexually assaulted them.” The consequence of this can be devastating as, "every time one of these groups leaves hundreds of thousands of people may starve," he said.

In order to stop the genocide Prendergast proposed what he called "targeted" sanctions that function as part of a three-tiered system. The sanctions would include boycotts of specific Sudanese-based oil companies that have international holdings, asset freezes and travel restrictions on senior level officials, and cooperation and support of the International Criminal Court to level indictments. Read more >>>