Remember Darfur?

Well do we?

Looks like the world has once again forgot about the 3rd world that is Africa. I for one took a blow to the self awareness yesterday when listening to Don Cheadle on NPR about the continued fight just to get people to recognize that genocide is occurring over there. Currently 400,000 people, men, women and children, have been sought out and killed. 2.5 million people reside in displaced camps waiting to die.

But to spare ourselves any further embarrassment of playing dumb when it comes to the largest act of crimes against humanity since RWANDA, here's the latest:

It may take up to 3 months to finally get peace talks started between the Darfur rebel groups (fighting for their people's survival) & the Khartoum government. Why the delay? "..the secretary of the “task force” Achier Deng Akol said his commission has yet to contact any group, adding it may take until July to bring them all together."

Only one rebel group has signed on the peace accord. The rest are still in hiding for fear of annihilation upon recognition. And yet no governmental violence has stopped.

The ICC, International Criminal Court, or "The Hague" has sought our 2 arrest warrants for the Sudanese human affairs minister and a government sponsored militia leader.

However Sudan had this to say to the Hague. F* off.

"Our position is very, very clear: The ICC cannot assume any jurisdiction to judge any Sudanese outside the country," al-Mardi said in Khartoum. "Whatever the ICC does is totally unrealistic, illegal and repugnant to any form of international law."

Sudan was not part of the ICC founding or signed off on its rule of law. Much like the United States.

And finally a all out protest & strike against global companies who do business in Sudan has shown rewards. A global Divestment Campaign has successfully gotten Rolls-Royce, Land Rover, 10 US States, and 40 US universities have now divested their interests in Sudan.

The Sudan Divestment Task Force was started in the US in 2005, with the sole purpose of choking off revenue and assets to the Sudanese government by shutting down their business connections.

It seems to be working. Multinational Corps all around Europe are feeling the heat, and more and more US entities are taking notice.

"The government of Khartoum has never felt under sufficient pressure," said Nick Donovan, head of policy and research at the U.K.-based Aegis Trust, whose independent organization campaigns against genocide.

Well looks like some people have remembered Darfur after all.