Omar al- Bashir should rethink his decisions

Editor, The situation in Western Sudan, in the Darfur region is one that has to be seriously looked at. For now six years so many people are losing their lives and the responsible leaders just seem not to give a damn.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Editor,

The situation in Western Sudan, in the Darfur region is one that has to be seriously looked at. For now six years so many people are losing their lives and the responsible leaders just seem not to give a damn.

Just last week after much international pressure from the United Nations and African Union, Sudan’s president Omar al- Bashir, seemed to become sane when he agreed to have peace talks with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a rebel group that has fought the government for their unfair treatment of the Darfuri people.

Things seemed to be going on well until Khartoum’s decision was presented by one of Bashir’s spokemen. The decision was that an agreement could not be reached because other rebel groups were not involved.

Seriously, that decision was so unwise, how can the presence of all rebel groups in Western Sudan solve the crisis.

One would think that, JEM being the strongest military insurgent in Darfur who on a number of occasions have clashed with the Khartoum government, would be liable to once and for all settle these differences.

The fact that Bashir is making it difficult to come to an agreement with JEM, is a sign that he does not care about the Darfurians.

He went against his word by refusing to meet his end of the deal. He refused to set some of the JEM prisoners free and continues to make it difficult for humanitarian aid workers to access the region.

Dealing with one rebel group at a time is what will slowly bring peace. There could be collaboration with JEM and the Sudan government to contain the other minor rebel groups.

However, as we can all see, finding peace in Darfur is becoming futile with the constant attacks by the notorious ‘Janjaweed.’

These are supported, armored and assigned by the government to go and eliminate the people of Darfur every time they resist his dictatorial policies.

These devils on horseback, are merciless and do not care about shooting babies and innocent people as they burn down entire villages and IDP camps.

For the sake of humanity, if al- Bashir cannot rethink his decisions and policies, then he does no deserve to be placed where he is at the moment.

A real leader is one that has the interest of his people at heart, not one that kills the people he leads. This genocide in Darfur has to end soon.

We cannot have two genocides that are ignored in just two decades. African’s need to learn from Rwanda’s example and learn to be peaceful  and wise decision makers, otherwise history keeps repeating itself and wars will never end.

Kigali