Dear editor,The ongoing Darfur crisis has seen its share of problems and obstacles as regarding the steps needed to end the disaster. All are left wondering what can possibly be done to stop the five year long genocide in Darfur. This week, the UN Security Council voted to keep its peacekeepers in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan after last-minute haggling over African concerns about a possible indictment of Sudan’s president on genocide charges. The 15-member body voted to extend the mandate of the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur (Unamid) for one year from Thursday, when it was set to expire, but the US abstained from voting and criticized the text. US had raised last minute objections to a push by African states to include objections to a move by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, for war crimes. Indicting Sudan’s president though may not seem appropriate at this juncture in time, could be the only solution to end the Darfur crisis. If a ruler cannot maintain the peace and stability of his country he has to step down. However, it is highly likely that the US abstained from voting and is using these objections as a way to get back at African states which had rejected its call for sanctions against Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Further challenges and grounds for conflict are manifesting. The African Union peace keepers are claiming that this crisis is not being resolved because they cannot access the region due to lack of helicopters. The UN is also claiming that they are stretched to the limit.With all this on the spot light, the peace keeping bodies need to come to a resolution to maintain stability in Darfur no matter what the consequences are. I believe it is high time to stop the shedding of innocent blood in Darfur. KIMIRONKO
