A key U.S. congressman says he’s “baffled” that the State Department isn’t doing anything to stop the genocide in Darfur.
U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., held a news conference two weeks ago to spur the Bush administration into stopping the bloodletting in the Sudanese province. But he says there’s been no response.
“It’s just baffling,” Wolf said. “I really don’t understand it.”
At Wolf’s urging, Congress set aside $250,000 earlier this summer to pay for a special envoy to Darfur. To date, the position is open, Wolf said.
Last week, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that appointing the special envoy was the White House’s job.
The problem is bigger than that, asserted Wolf; the few Sudanese experts at the State Department have left for other jobs.
“The bench is empty,” Wolf said. “There’s no one at home on this issue.”
A State Department spokesman refused further comment Monday.
Thousands have been raped, wounded or slaughtered in Darfur in the last three years as Khartoum-backed Islamic death squads roam the countryside hoping to purge it of ethnic Africans.
A peace agreement signed May 5 has had little affect; in fact, the violence has only worsened since, aid groups say.
In 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to the violence in Darfur as genocide. The 1948 U.N. Charter on Genocide — of which the U.S. is a signatory — requires member states to intervene against genocide.
Wolf said that the dead of Darfur are on the conscience of the U.S. and the world, and he hopes it’s not too late.
“It’s been over three years,” he said. “You’ve actually lost a generation.”
