EDITORIAL- U.S. aid to Sudan too little, too late

Congress, attempting to bandage the current disaster in the northeastern African country of… Congress, attempting to bandage the current disaster in the northeastern African country of Sudan, authorized $300 million in aid yesterday, an almost-token gesture of aid that is too little and much too late.

Although Sudan has been embroiled in a civil war for 21 years, the conflict has intensified in the past 22 months, killing 70,000 people and leaving 2 million displaced within the western region of Darfur and in the neighboring country of Chad.

The recent conflict was sparked by a rebellion of Christian forces against the authoritarian, Muslim-run government. Peace negotiations between the two sides, historical enemies divided along racial and religious lines, have failed. Journalists, observers and the United States have accused government-sponsored militias of raping and massacring civilians. The refugee situation has grown to almost unimaginable levels, leaving Sudan’s neighbors — not rich countries to begin with — to deal with the overflow.

The United Nations has declared this the single worst humanitarian crisis on the planet. Secretary of State Colin Powell declared it genocide in September. (And, while we can spot missile silos from space, it took the United States more than 18 months to declare people killing one another genocide.)

U.N. sanctions have only been threatened, not enacted. African Union peacekeepers from Nigeria, Rwanda and Gambia, among other countries, have been sent, but there is no peace. Clearly, drastic action is needed.

Yet, except for a lot of hemming and hawing on exactly what to do, this aid package — a mere $300 million authorized, but not specifically allotted; that will require a separate spending bill — is the first concrete move the United States has made concerning Sudan.

Of the $300 million, two-thirds of that is going to aid, including additional peacekeepers, while the other $100 million will be used as incentive for the government and the rebel factions to reach a peace agreement, according to the Associated Press. This bribe to make peace is a nice gesture, but it’s probably a waste of money — as the government, in addition to being a dictatorship, is a kleptocracy — that could be better spent on additional aid.

President George W. Bush, entering his first term, said he didn’t want the United States to be the world’s police. But now that we have our finger in every pie, as it were, it’s time to take a clear high ground and invest money where we can do the most good. The Sudanese refugees need basics — food, shelter, clean water, medical care — and some guarantee of safety. If we are world leaders, then we should not repeat the mistakes of the mid-’90s — ignoring the Rwandan genocide — and do more than simply hand down a token amount of money to a country in crisis.