Last month, the Obama administration announced that a delegation representing the Bashir regime would soon visit the U.S. A petition by 107 genocide scholars to Obama, urging him to cancel the visit, has so far gone unanswered.
Ironically, countries far smaller and weaker than the United States have shown more backbone on this issue. Uganda, South Africa, and even tiny, deeply impoverished Malawi have threatened to arrest Bashir if he attempts to take part in international conferences in their countries. The president of Brazil stormed out of a banquet rather than sit next to Bashir. Yet the U.S., apparently worried about angering Bashir’s allies in the Arab League, continues to stand idly by as the Butcher of Darfur travels freely.
And the Atrocities Prevention Board under Samantha Power? Thirteen months after it was established, it still has no office, no website, no phone, no public record of action, not even a single statement issued about Bashir’s travels or other issues related to atrocities in Sudan or anywhere else.
(JNS)
