'Africans must save Darfur' says Botswana's former president Sir Ketumile Masire

Boston Globe opinion piece by Ketumile Masire has an eyecatching title "Africans must save Darfur." Sir Ketumile Masire was president of Botswana from 1980 to 1998.

The piece is great in theory but with an oil rich country like Sudan presided over by Arabic dictators who hang on to power at any cost, no matter if the cost exceeds the loss of well over two million lives, how can Africans overcome the obstacle of sovereignty?

It is easy to say the African Union should increase its troops and expand its mandate in Darfur but how can it be done when Sudan's dictators reject offers of help and refuse an expanded mandate for African Union troops? Khartoum says an expanded mandate would be perceived as an occupying force and cause more violence. More than likely they see it as a threat and fear being overthrown. They stole power from a democratically elected government. Nobody voted them in.

[Note, the African Union's stand on Zimbabwe. African reaction to Zimbabwe's evictions is "disappointing", says the EU Commission head. See full story]