With the independence referendum due to take place this Sunday, I have a piece in the American Prospect that takes a look at how the “Save Darfur” movement might end up saving South Sudan instead.
For years, analysts, scholars, and observers have warned that history might repeat itself. In late September, Nicholas Kristof even devoted a New York Timescolumn, titled “Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold,” to the crisis, sketching out the play-by-play of a potential genocide in South Sudan.
That remains a possibility, though a diminishing one. This time around, the international community appears motivated to prevent mass atrocities before they occur.
This is largely due to the advent of a robust and politically active anti-genocide movement that took hold in the United States over the past seven years and that has pressured American and international officials to pay attention to Sudan.
Read the whole thing!