Romeo Dallaire says Darfur "is not a genocide but it is a (case of) massive crimes against humanity"

Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian senator (Liberal) who once commanded the UN mission in Rwanda, says AMIS needs "a second wave of reinforcements" to be able to wait out the arrival of UN troops, which won't be until sometime next year, Ottawa Citizen Laura Payton reported July 3, 2006. Excerpt:

Darfur has been the focus of much of Dallaire's public statements recently, and last week brought him the opportunity to make some progress as part of a UN committee on genocide prevention, which met for the first time to discuss its mandate.

The committee will focus on gathering intelligence and giving advice to the UN secretary general and the Security Council, the body at the UN that decides when to begin military action. Dallaire said the committee hopes to prevent future genocides like the 1994 massacre in Rwanda.

Besides watching out for genocide specifically, the committee wants to look at human rights abuses that don't qualify as genocide, like Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge or the ongoing violence in Sudan. "Cambodia killed a couple of million (people) but it wasn't a genocide because it was politically motivated, (involving people of) the same ethnicity," he said. Likewise, Darfur "is not a genocide but it is a (case of) massive crimes against humanity."

Note, the Canadian government (Conservative) pledged $20 million to the African union mission in Sudan last month. Canada has contributed $190 million to the mission since 2004, including money, equipment and military and civilian experts.