The Khartoum regime's excesses are well documented and it could have been a travesty of justice to reward it with the chairmanship of the African Union. Since its genocidal campaign, spearheaded by Arab militias of Janjaweed against the black Sudanese of the western region of Darfur, more than 200 000 of the latter have been slaughtered and more than two million displaced.
Of late the regime has been carrying out systematic aerial bombardments of their black victims, to the extent of making it impossible for much-needed food and medical relief to reach them. In addition, the Khartoum regime has been intransigent in allowing the increase of the paltry 7 000 strong African Union force charged with bringing peace to that beleaguered region. The regime has blocked well-intentioned and necessary efforts to bring in the United Nations supervised forces. Not to mention the armed conflicts the Khartoum regime is believed to be fomenting in the neighbouring countries of Chad and the Central African Republic.
