Making friend with officials from Sudan....

Today I sat in a slightly warm conference room at the United Nations to hear a seminar on desertification and the threats it presents. Now, normally I am not one to seek out confrontation...but as I'm thinking about making a comment to the panel, I see a man enter the room, in a rather nice suit, and looking around he quickly sat down at the seat for the representative from Sudan. Well, I couldn't help it. I asked a question about the topic at hand, but made sure to mention "the ongoing government sponsored genocide in Darfur."

As the panel went to address my question and the others that had been asked...this man I had seen walk in quickly raised his hand and interrupted the panel, and made a brief statement saying that "the conflict in Darfur has not been called a genocide by this [the United Nations] body, so any such language should not be used."

Aside from pure outrage at this comment, I felt a sense of accomplishment. Not only did I get to call Darfur a genocide within the sacred walls of the United Nations, but I also make this guy from the mission of the Sudan angry enough to reply to my humble little comment. It is often frustrating being a witness to the action, or rather lack of action at the UN, but it is quite fun to make friends with new people.