Russ Feingold: “the United Nations' Commission of Inquiry on the crisis in Darfur reported to the Security Council on Monday of this…”

“the United Nations' Commission of Inquiry on the crisis in Darfur reported to the Security Council on Monday of this week. Like every credible account of what has happened in Darfur, the report makes for grim reading. The Commission pointed to the ``killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence'' in its discussion of the violations of international law that have occurred in the area, and also found that there may have been Sudanese Government officials and others who acted ``with genocidal intent.'' This report stands in stark contrast to the positive news that emerged from Sudan last month, when a comprehensive agreement to end the decades-long, devastating north-south civil war was signed. I welcomed that agreement, and I hope it is successful. But the truth is that I have little confidence in the Government of Sudan, and I see no reason to believe that a north-south peace agreement will awaken that government to its responsibility to protect all of its citizens.”