Halima is Zhagawa, an indigenous African tribe in Sudan’s Darfur region. She’s also a gifted doctor who has attended to victims of the atrocities there.

One day, without warning, she was forcibly pulled from her clinic, mercilessly beaten and thrown in jail, where she was repeatedly raped by her sadistic captors. Only by the grace of God did she mange to survive.

Her grievous crimes were twofold: she told a United Nations team about an attack on a girls’ primary school, where pupils as young as eight were raped. Her other crime was belonging to a tribe that’s been systematically targeted for mass atrocities by the Khartoum regime and its proxy militia, the Janjaweed .

Her agonizing story is told in her memoirs, Tears in the Desert.

Sadly, not enough tears have been shed by international leaders.

Six years have elapsed since the start of a counter-insurgency campaign in Darfur, orchestrated by the government of Sudan, that has led to the systematic destruction of African life in Darfur, where close to 400,000 people have perished. The true number is not known, as epidemiological studies can only extrapolate the probable mortality. The Khartoum regime prevents unfettered investigations. The statistics include not only death by violence, but death by attrition – famine and disease.

As well, countless others have been raped and tortured, and some 2.5 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes. Tragically, the international community has been unable to muster the political will to resolve the crisis, and the Sudanese government continues to act with impunity despite recent developments.

In early March, an arrest warrant was issued for Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It was the first time that an international tribunal has charged a sitting head of government with such egregious crimes.

But despite the gravity of the charges, the international community continues to negotiate with Bashir and his cohorts as if they are part of the solution while they continue to be the source of the problem. After Bashir’s indictment, the government of Sudan expelled 13 non-governmental humanitarian groups from Darfur that were providing essential services to 1.1 million people out of a vulnerable population of four million. The groups accounted for about 40 per cent of effective health care services and helped to stem infectious diseases such as meningitis and dysentery, as well as implement wide-scale vaccination programs and run multiple feeding centres. The genocide of attrition continues unabated.

The channels of international diplomacy have only seen a flood of verbiage from world leaders, with barely any action. The international community vacillates on firmer action while the government of Sudan dictates the terms.

For example, the UNAMID security force sanctioned by UN Security Council Resolution 1769 is 1-1/2 years past its due date. Only half the force has been deployed so far. Although resources have not been forthcoming from various countries, the main issue is the Khartoum regime’s obstructionism. It ingeniously sets up obstacles, then relents while reinventing other roadblocks to the rapid deployment of this critical force.

The peace process in Doha, Qatar, between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels has stalled, mostly due to the government of Sudan not honouring earlier agreements, notwithstanding the boycott of the largest rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), which contends that no serious negotiations can take place until security in the region is assured.

Furthermore, the UN Human Rights Council has deemed the crisis in Darfur to be not suitable for deliberation, which sends the message to the Sudanese government that there are few repercussions for its actions. It is unfathomable that one of the worst human rights offenders in world does not meet the criteria for examination by this UN body, which only cements the image of the United Nations as a highly dysfunctional organization.

The Arab-dominated government in Khartoum certainly had a sordid human rights record prior to the crisis in Darfur. The longstanding civil war between the regime and African tribes in the south saw close to two million people die, mostly Africans. As well, villages have been razed and five million people were forcibly displaced between 1989 and 2002, using the same brazen tactics that have been employed in Darfur. Much of the conquered land was used for petroleum development. Only when southern rebels regained some of the territory and the rebels held the Khartoum regime to a draw did the government submit to concerted international pressure and sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). However, little of the spirit or detail of the agreement – which clearly stipulates wealth and power-sharing between the north and south –­ has been implemented. The tenuous agreement is on the brink of unravelling, with this region of Sudan being at risk of another bloodbath. So as Darfur burns, the south percolates.

The odious behaviour of the Sudanese government since it came to power in a coup d’etat in 1989 has at best marginalized and oppressed all African ethnicities (and even a few Arab tribes) and at worst showed pernicious contempt for many African tribes, resulting in their decimation. Much of it this behaviour pre-dated the genocide in Darfur, and the world has been largely oblivious or has taken a laissez faire attitude to what the government has done.

Whether it has been the Dinka and Nuer in the south, the Zhagawa and Fur in the west (Darfur), the Nubians in the centre and the Beja in the east, all have been subjected at one time or another to the brutal wrath and mass atrocities of the regime. Only the atrocities in Darfur have captured international attention, but the regime in Khartoum has escaped unscathed and intact.

It is unconscionable – with all we know about Darfur and the penetrating legacies of genocides of the past century, from Armenia to the Holocaust, culminating in Rwanda – that the world has allowed yet another genocide to linger. The moral compass of the international community seems directionless.

The question remains: what needs to be done?

The government of Sudan has, in effect, vetoed measures to bring peace and security to the region. Benchmarks must be met or punitive measures should be invoked against the regime.

First, the full deployment of UNAMID, with full manpower of 26,000, must be implemented expeditiously to protect civilians in Darfur and permit humanitarian aid to get through. Disarming of both sides must be a clear objective.

Second, the peace process in Doha must address grievances and the marginalization of Darfuris, as well as the repatriation of those who have been forcibly displaced.

Thirdly, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement must be enacted in all its detail, and it must serve as a template that brings peace and security to all regions of Sudan. If these measures are implemented, together with the removal of the indicted Bashir, Sudan can become a credible member of the family of nations once more.

If not, the international community must start to wield a stick.

There must be targeted economic sanctions against individuals and parties that are most responsible for the unmitigated violence in Sudan, including freezing Sudan’s assets around the world. Sanctions must be applied where possible to prevent petroleum dollars from reaching government coffers. Much of this revenue is used to purchase weaponry, with little filtering down to the people. Finally, if Sudanese aerial attacks on civilian targets don’t cease, a no-fly zone must be enforced.

What can Canada do? It can facilitate this tougher stance by urging its international partners to adopt these measures collectively. Canada has recently demonstrated moral leadership with its boycott of the followup conference to the 2001 UN anti-racism conference, and there is a void of international leadership on the crisis in Darfur.

However, Canadian leadership is contingent on more of us demanding such leadership from our government. We must and can do more!

Halima’s story of unbearable suffering, together with countless untold other stories, cannot simply be swept aside in a desert storm.

In the eloquent words of Eli Wiesel: “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Let us continue to torment the tormentor. Our humanity depends on it.

Norman Epstein is a medical doctor and a co-founder of Canadians Against Slavery and Torture in Sudan