Journal Entry for December 10, 2003

Just back from a British reception. (Last night it was German.) Spent a good deal of it talking about Darfur with colleagues. We are all growing concerned about the conflict there. The government is using the same tactics of bombing civilians and arming militias that they used in the south. We westerners have been holding back from confronting the government because of the peace process with the SPLM but the west is getting bad and escalating. UN estimates 600,000 displaced and another 400,000 affected by the war, such as not having food because they could not plant or harvest this year. We have been reporting this but have not been alarmist. We're thinking that maybe we now need to sound some alarms or risk having stood by during genocide.