Last week, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution to extend its peacekeeping mission in Darfur. The resolution passed overwhelmingly, with all countries in the council voting for it, except for the United States. A U.S. representative did not cast a vote, citing concerns about the wording of the resolution.

"The U.S. abstained in the vote because language added to the resolution would send the wrong message to Sudanese President Bashir and undermine efforts to bring him and others to justice," Alejandro Wolff said. "This council cannot ignore the terrible crimes that have occurred throughout the conflict in Darfur."

The alleged crimes stem from a brutal counter-insurgency campaign the Sudanese government conducted after rebels began an uprising in Darfur in 2003. The government armed and cooperated with Arab militias that went from village to village in Darfur, killing, torturing and raping residents there, according to the United Nations, western governments and human rights organizations. The militias targeted civilian members of tribes from which the rebels draw strength. The U.S. has characterized the campaign as genocide.

About 300,000 people have died in Darfur, the United Nations estimates, and 2.5 million have been forced from their homes. Many are languishing in desperate conditions in refugee camps. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid716091889/bctid716320015

In many ways, such language and resolutions are reminiscent of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940) agreement with Germany’s Third Reich more than 60 year ago. Albeit on a much larger scale, in 1938 Chamberlain was duped by Hitler into believing that peace would reign in Europe . . . that Europeans would not be threatened. Chamberlain was forced to resign as Prime Minister when Germany invaded Belgium, The Netherlands and France in 1940.

Is Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir a war criminal? Will there be “peace in our time” as long as hundreds of thousands of Sudanese suffer in refugee camps? Can we who live in the free world turn away from those who are still enduring the horror of life in the Sudan?