Anyone who takes away innocent human life and curtails people's rights to freedom in the name of national security should be dealt with appropriately. I say this with particular reference to the situation in Kosovo where a delayed international intervention means human tragedy waiting to happen. However, what stuns me most in this whole scenario is the urgency with which the international community feels the need for a rapid response in Kosovo. It would be sadistic to suggest that the ethnic cleansing in Serbia does not warrant intervention. However, does it really warrant air strikes especially by the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies?

If the arguments presented in congress are enough for a massive use of force against the Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, then I can't imagine any further reasons that poor people of southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains (also in Sudan) require before the international community can intervene to save them from the Sudanese military regime of Muhammad El Bashir. Besides the difference in geographical locations in that Sudan is in Africa, and Kosovo is in Europe, the loss of lives is the same because in either side are humans. Probably the number of lives lost in Sudan is far greater than that of Serbia. In fact, the Sudanese case is a silent genocide.

If the respect for inalienable human rights transcend national sovereignty, and human dignity precedes national security, then both Kosovars and the southern Sudanese have a right to international intervention. But, why does the attention on Kosovo override Sudan? Who will hear the cries of the Sudanese?

The way the protracted war in Sudan has been handled makes both the United Nations and indeed the international community accomplices to the silent genocide.

It is time that UN took a proactive political role in Sudan by among other things, appointing a full-time Special Representative of the Secretary General. Such a gesture will definitely demand the attention and seriousness of the Security Council which is, after all, the only strongest tooth of the world body.

If international action can make a difference in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, then why not in Sudan? Humanitarian assistance alone, in a political vacuum, will not solve Sudan's problem nor prevent the next famine. There has to be a political will to bring the 16-year-old civil war to an end. As much as regional effort from neighboring countries is essential, the UN should have an intensive lobby for peace that would include summit level meetings and a rather aggressive diplomacy than the behind-the-scene processes which so far has only worked to the advantage of the oppressor.

Among the latest to voice concern about the situation in Sudan is the Inter-Church Coalition on Africa (ICCAF), a consortium of Canadian organizations working in/on Sudan. In a document released last month, entitled "Cries from the heart: Who will stop the Genocide in Sudan," ICCAF noted that some of the worst forms of human rights abuses in the world today occur in Sudan. The abuses take different forms including social and economic isolation, slavery, forced starvation, rape, displacement and arbitrary imprisonment. Although Sudanese rebel groups such as the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), are also responsible for serious human rights violations, the principal perpetrated of the abuses is the government.

But what bothers me more - especially after working in parts of the most affected areas - is that despite years of documentation of these and other crimes against humanity in Sudan, and the fact that they constitute genocide as defined in the Genocide Convention, the international community has done very little to expose the crime or prevent it from relentlessly progressing towards its completion. And this is why at the end of the day, history will hold international community accomplice to the genocide in Sudan.

What should the little children of south Sudan do before they can become a national interest for some world power to come to their rescue? In these days we move so quickly to declare parks, animals, marine life and even rocks embedded under the sea as treasures. We even enact laws that protect such treasure and endangered species. Why should we wait for the children of southern Sudan to die then declare their fossils treasures?

In its 16th year, the war in Sudan has killed 1.9 million people and displaced another 4.5 million. It is a shame and in deed regrettable that throughout the span of this ugly war, the world's primary intervention in Sudan continues to be humanitarian and provision of relief aid which, although practically saves precious lives, it does very little to address the reason why Sudan needs aid year after year.

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