The world's eyes, most recently focused on such hot spots as Libya and Cote D'Ivoire, turned back to Sudan this weekend as forces from the northern part of the country captured a key town in the disputed Abyei region on May 21^st.  The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has called for the northern forces to pull out immediately, a call which the government of Sudan has rejected.

Sudanese President Bashir-currently charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), but yet to be arrested-claimed that the South attacked Northern Sudanese troops who were part of a UN peacekeeping convoy on May 19^th while they were withdrawing from the region, and the North responded in self-defense.  South Sudan's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) denied this charge and accused the North of taking a step towards "full-scale war."

On Monday, April 18, Citizens for Global Solutions ran a full page advertisement in the New York Times that calls for three essential actions for the U.N. to take in Libya. We are reaching out to Americans because we now live in a new age where the international community has accepted its responsibility to protect. But you can’t protect babies from 30,000 feet nor should this be the job of the U.S. and its allies alone.  The United Nations must have the support and tools that it needs to get these jobs done:

1. Deployment of U.N. Peacekeepers On the Ground to Protect Libyan Civilians;
2. Provision of Food, Water, Medicine and Shelter for Displaced People in Libya;
3. U.N. Sponsored Elections to Bring Democracy and a Legitimate Government.

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Last night I had a conversation with a Senator, who I consider a friend, about Libya.  It was a private conversation so I won’t mention his name.  But after listening to President Obama’s speech, he was still very concerned about what the U.S. was doing in Libya. For him, the concept that we were there to protect civilians wasn’t good enough.  Nor was the concept that if the international community didn’t weigh in, then in President Obama’s words, “if we waited one more day, Benghazi, a city nearly the size of Charlotte, could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.”

When this senator first ran for office, one of the questions I asked him was, “under what circumstances would you vote to authorize the president to take military action?” He viewed, “military action as an instrument of last resort in international relations” and listed 5 standards which I believe are reasonable.  I also believe the UN authorized actions that the US has taken in Libya meet these criteria.  Let me know what you think:

President Obama gave what I consider to be a great speech on Libya tonight.  Here's an excellent quote:

Sometimes, the course of history poses challenges that threaten our common humanity and common security - responding to natural disasters, for example; or preventing genocide and keeping the peace; ensuring regional security, and maintaining the flow of commerce. These may not be America's problems alone, but they are important to us, and they are problems worth solving. And in these circumstances, we know that the United States, as the world's most powerful nation, will often be called upon to help.

In such cases, we should not be afraid to act - but the burden of action should not be America's alone. As we have in Libya, our task is instead to mobilize the international community for collective action. Because contrary to the claims of some, American leadership is not simply a matter of going it alone and bearing all of the burden ourselves. Real leadership creates the conditions and coalitions for others to step up as well; to work with allies and partners so that they bear their share of the burden and pay their share of the costs; and to see that the principles of justice and human dignity are upheld by all.