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Bush Urges World Action To End African Bloodshed

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By JENNIFER LOVEN, The Associated Press

Published: February 20, 2008

KIGALI, Rwanda - On ground haunted by one of the worst atrocities of modern times, President Bush pleaded with the global community Tuesday for decisive action to stop grisly ethnic violence now plaguing other African nations, such as Kenya and Sudan.

"There is evil in the world, and evil must be confronted," said Bush, shaken by a visit to a museum that tells the story of Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 100 days by extremist Hutu militias.

Bush, who once wrote "not on my watch" in the margin of a report on the Rwanda massacre, has responded to the atrocities that have raged in Sudan's western Darfur region by imposing sanctions, applying diplomatic pressure, and training and transporting other nations' soldiers for peacekeeping. But he decided not to send U.S. troops into Sudan, and it took three years after the crisis began in 2003 to announce sanctions, prompting renewed criticism that his actions don't match his impassioned rhetoric on the topic.

That hasn't stopped Bush from expressing frustration at what he sees as sluggish efforts by the United Nations and other countries in Darfur. Bush has called the situation genocide, though others have not. Hoping that his campaign for increased involvement by others would gain more weight from the scene of another genocide, the president used strong language to blast the international effort.

At least 200,000 have been killed in a five-year campaign by militias supported by Sudan's Arab-dominated government against black African areas in Darfur for suspected rebel support. Four cease-fires have gone unheeded. Only about 9,000 of an expected 26,000-troop peacekeeping force, a joint effort by the United Nations and African Union, have been deployed. The Sudanese government has not agreed to non-African troops and the United Nations has not persuaded governments to supply helicopters.

Rwanda was the first to send peacekeepers to Darfur and still has the most troops there.

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