[Mb-civic] The Slaughter Spreads By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

[Michael Butler]

The New York Times
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April 16, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
The Slaughter Spreads
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Last month villagers along Chad's border with Sudan told me how brutal
militias were attacking their towns, murdering their babies, raping their
daughters and burning their huts, while shouting racial slurs against
blacks. Now those impoverished Chadians may find themselves not only
attacked by genocidal marauders but also ruled by them.

Over the past week, Sudan has sponsored a full-scale invasion of Chad,
seeking to oust Chad's president and replace him with the warlord who has
overseen the murder, rape and pillage in those border areas.

Sudan seems determined to extend its genocide to Chad, and the upshot is
that the catastrophe of Darfur may now be multiplied manyfold.

One of the towns I stayed in during my visit to Chad last month was Adré,
which by some accounts ‹ denied by the government ‹ has now been seized by
this Sudanese proxy force known for throwing babies into bonfires. So I
wonder what happened to the children I met in the Adré hospital, like Fatima
Juma, a 13-year-old girl who would have been unable to flee because she had
been shot in the chest and arm while fetching water.

That the fighting has spread to Chad underscores that our policy in Darfur
has not only been morally bankrupt, but also catastrophic in a practical
sense. Appeasing Sudan has allowed the situation to worsen, because our
policy has essentially consisted, after every outrage, of making the
Darfuris turn the other cheek.

Chad's president, Idriss Déby, is a corrupt dictator. But he at least had
the gumption to show some discontent at the genocide next door, and Sudan is
taking aim at him precisely for that reason. If we let Sudan get away with
ousting him for refusing to applaud a mass slaughter, we will have
compounded our own shameful record.

It's not that President Déby was even very active against the genocide.
Worried about offending Sudan, his government threatened to arrest me if I
again sneaked into Darfur illegally from Chad to cover the genocide. But Mr.
Déby did have the guts to grant Darfur refugees a safe haven in Chad, saving
their lives ‹ although now, disgracefully, he has threatened to expel them
if the Darfur conflict is not resolved by June.

The fighting in Chad, including a battle in the capital, Ndjamena, that
reportedly killed 350 people on Thursday, is nominally between the
government and rebels. But make no mistake: those "rebels" are simply a
proxy force of Sudan, made up in part by the Sudanese janjaweed militias
that orchestrated the killing of several black African tribes in Darfur.

The Chadian rebels operate from a base that journalists have visited in
Sudan. The rebels' guns, vehicles and uniforms come from the Sudanese
government.

Their leader, Mohamed Nour, was handpicked by Sudan to lead this invading
force. Sudan's vice president, Ali Osman Taha, has visited Mr. Nour at his
base. And the "rebels" often drop by the town of Geneina, where everybody
sees that they include some Chadians but also many Sudanese janjaweed
fighters.

"Even a kid of 5 years old in Geneina knows that the Sudanese government is
organizing the militias," said Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, a heroic Sudanese who
leads an independent human rights group active in Darfur.

The danger now is threefold.

First, Chad may collapse into civil war, chaos and banditry, like Darfur
itself but on a much larger scale.

Second, the 200,000 refugees who fled Darfur and are living in U.N.-run
camps in Chad may be specifically targeted for mass slaughter.

Third, the unrest may force international aid workers to pull out of Chad.
Then the refugees will starve to death more gradually.

The U.S. has called on "all parties ... to reduce those levels of violence"
‹ which is a bit like suggesting in 1943 that Nazis and Jews alike cease
hostilities. The U.S. and other major powers need to be much more forceful
in shoring up Chad against the invaders.

France has a major military base in eastern Chad and should start strafing
the invaders. The U.S. should back France, send a top envoy to Chad to show
support, and provide intelligence to Chad and France about the invaders'
whereabouts.

President Bush and millions of Americans today will celebrate Easter and the
end of Holy Week. But where is the piety in reading the Bible while averting
one's eyes from genocide? Mr. Bush, how about showing your faith by doing
something a bit more meaningful ‹ like standing up to the butchers?