4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, May 15, 2006 UJjzurWw I VIEWPOINT America's role in Darfur JEREMY DAVIDSON Editor in Chief IMRAN SYED Editorial Page Editor JEFFREY BLOOMER Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their author. Editorial Board Members: Emily Beam, Jared Goldberg, Theresa Kennelly, Mark Kuehn, David Russell, Adam Soclof, Gavin Stern, Ben Taylor, Christopher Zbrozek FROM THE DAILY Kryptonite or super ci Detroit officials must clean up neighborhoods BY REP. JOE SCHWARZ (R-MI) Those with Armenian, Jewish and Cambo- dian heritage, among others, understand all too well what happens when good people remain silent and allow atrocities to continue unabated. On Apr. 30, 2006, they were among the thou- sands who attended a rally in Washington D.C. for those affected by the strife and unrest in Darfur. Although many at the rally had diver- gent political and economic views, tragic situ- ations have a unique way of compelling many people to speak with one voice. The Darfur conflict began in February 2003, when rebels seeking greater political autonomy launched attacks. In response, Sudan's Islamic government dispatched troops and pro-govern- ment militias known as the Janjaweed to quell the uprising. The militias embarked on a campaign of terror, killing and raping civilians. On occasion, the conflict in Darfur has been labeled as a fight between Arabs and black Afri- cans. Yet the truth is more complicated because African and Arab identities are often indistin- guishable in Sudan. In fact, the true division in Darfur is between ethnic groups, divided between herders and farmers. The dialect of its members and whether they tend to the soil or herd livestock is the true determinant of whether an individual is identified as "African" or "Arab." Despite impossibility in any real distinctions between bloodlines, this three-year-old conflict is responsible for the deaths of at least 200,000 people and for causing more than 2.5 million to flee their homes and seek shelter in refugee camps inside Darfur or neighboring Chad. In the last month alone, more than 60,000 people have been forced to evacuate. While the United States has been a leaderpro- viding more than $1.3 billion a year in humani- tarian assistance, we must continue to actively express our disapproval and outrage at those who condone the genocidal actions of the Janjaweed and their associates. For this reason, I supported HR 3127, "The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act," approved 416-3 on Apr. 5, 2006 in the U.S. House of Representatives. HR 3127 directs the president to deny visas for entry into America for any person responsible for acts of genocide or crimes against humanity in Sudan. The bill authorizes the president to reinforce the deploy- ment and operations of the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Darfur and directs the president to instruct the U.S. Ambassador to NATO to lobby for a NATO peacekeeping force in Darfur. In addition, the bill encourages the president to consider pushing for an expansion of the man- date of the U.N. peacekeeping mission already in Sudan supporting the north-south peace agree- ment. Given the authorization provided by HR 3127, I also voted in favor of the 2006 Defense Supplemental bill that specifically includes $303 million for the peacekeeping mission in Darfur. This money will be used to sustain and expand the 7,700-member A.U. mission, supported by U.S. and NATO logistics, surveillance and airlift. Finally, I signed a letter to the secretary of state along with 119 other members of Congress, urging her to appoint a special envoy to Sudan. As the letter states, I am concerned that there is not a single person whose sole responsibility is to monitor the situation in Darfur and south- ern Sudan and answer directly to the secretary of state. I believe the appointment of a special envoy with a clear mandate, who has the ear of the secretary of state, will communicate to the Sudanese government and the world community the seriousness of our government's intent to see the suffering in Darfur end. While the pressure placed on the government of Sudan and the three rebel factions may yet yield a peaceful result in Darfur, it will not come easily. Mediators from the A.U. have already had to extend the deadline for agreement -on a peace settlement in order to bridge the gap on the issues of reintegration and disarmament, as well as on wealth and power sharing. Undoubtedly, there are going to be some extraordinarily difficult challenges, but it is not too late for appropriate and constant pres- sure to convince the Sudanese government to cease the mindless and brutal genocide in Darfur and to bring some order and tranquil- ity back to that part of Africa. To its credit, the administration has dispatched Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick to Abuja, Nigeria, where negotiations are being held to encourage a successful end to the horrific situa- tion in Darfur. Success in this effort is a must. Schwarz represents the 7th Congressional District of Michigan, which includes parts of Washtenaw county. He is a University alum and current chair of theAlumni Association. He previously served in the U.S. Navy, the CIA and in local and state gov- ernment. He currently sits on the House Agricul- ture, Armed Services and Science committees. The spotlight may be gone, but our beloved Detroit is still here. And after spending several years building and cleaning up for the Super Bowl, it seems Detroit city officials remain committed to continue working toward the city's resurgence, even after the nation has turned its eye elsewhere. But while they should be commended for instituting policies to maintain the city, unfortunately, their focus is not where it should be. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick recently announced a plan to put Roger Pen- ske - the man largely responsible for Detroit's strong showing as host of Super Bowl XL - in charge of continu- ing the clean-up process for the down- town area. But by choosing to continue focusing only on downtown, city offi- cials are making a mistake common to urban renewal efforts - they are focusing on the wants of potential out- side visitors to the city rather than on the needs of the residents that are its true life and blood. Make no mistake about it, a clean, vibrant downtown is a vital component of Detroit's climb into respectabil- ity, but no less important is improving residential areas. While cultural attrac- tions like sports stadiums, casinos and restaurants may attract suburbanites to the city for a few hours, clean, safe neighborhoods will attract permanent residents, who provide much more in the way of creating a livable city. In repaving downtown avenues, open- LIVE ON YOUR FEET ing up new businesses and attractions and further scrubbing the comparably pristine central areas, the mayor and city council have allowed the rest of the city to continue its decline. Street corners, even in otherwise respectable neighborhoods, are piled tall with litter, playgrounds are crumbling, street lights are often broken and abandoned build- ings are still all-too-easily spotted. Is it any wonder then that the city continues losing residents every month? Not all the problems in neighbor- hoods can be blamed on the city, but what is troubling is the lack of focus on improving life for the city's residents. While building up the Ford Field area for the Super Bowl, the city curbed bulk-trash pickup services in neigh- borhoods - likely one of the reasons so many old tires and appliances lie heaped on street corners. And now, instead of moving into areas it has thus far ignored, the city has decided to con- tinue polishing precious blocks of the downtown area. It is impossible to build a city worth living in while continuing to ignore its residentialaareas. Events like the Super Bowl have made outsiders curi- ous about the city, but they will only turn away with renewed negativity if city officials allow neighborhoods to remain derelict and unkempt. In all fairness, the mayor did say that there will be another initiative later on to clean up neighborhoods. The question is why is that not a priority now? JON OQUIST The thumbs have it The UM Patriots - Live Pacman in the Fishbowl, Superman in lecture halls and bizarre ninja-looking dudes in a classroom near you. This is what the infamous UM Patriots have given us - we owe them so much. And, having a top-five viral video on AOL, they prove this University once more to be the "leaders and the best." The big, bad Ivies - Continuing the trend of throwing around cash to steal top faculty from the poor public universities, Yale is reportedly looking into making an offer to LSA Prof. Juan Cole. Take the money and run if you will, Prof. Cole, but remember, the Yankees don't win nearly as often as you'd think they would. ti , ,a