Is a big stick necessary or are there other ways?
Just two miles away from my home in Cairo an international incident happened three days ago.(plenty of coverage on TV all over the world). A group of Sudanese refugees was "cleared" from their camp next to the UNHCR offices. Over 20 were killed by a brutal Egyptian police assault on their camp. I have seen the camp: Over 2000 people lived on a garden site no bigger than a tennis court. It appears, and I have no inside information, that the UNHCR itself called in the authorities to disperse this camp. If this is true then what are the UN people doing? Have they changed sides? Are they unable to assist refugees? Are they completely so helpless that they cannot find solutions for Sudanese people disrupted/ displaced and homeless.
I agree that most countries are tiring of refugees and asylum seekers because they drain the economy and take employment away from locals but what is to be done about them? It is easy to blame the Egyptian Police for over-zealous action in this instance, but I put part of the blame on the UN. If the UN is under-funded, give it more funds. If it is under-manned, give it more men. If it is badly managed (from Annan down), get some people who can do a better job! The UN gives massive aid but it needs to be a policeman now--more than ever.
Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali (former UN Secretary General), recently spoke on Egyptian TV. The good Doctor made his own mistakes as UN Sec.-Genl. we know, but he made one telling point: We are so consumed by combatting terrorism that we forget the Rwanda's and Darfur's. The Sudan needs massive aid and assistance--and an army of neutrals to quell the mess.
Perhaps I've got it all wrong. Maybe we should just ignore the Sudan as we ignore the DRC. Perhaps we should ignore gross neglect of human rights. Perhaps we should say that there is no body of mankind willing to assist these wretched people and the circumstances they are living in.
The United Nations does a lot of good and we, as onlookers to suffering, need to say MORE, MORE and MORE. That's why you're there surely?