Ethiopia "Nears" Genocide

According to Genocide Watch, Ethiopia is on the verge of full fledged genocide. This article reads: The Ethiopian military has committed widespread murder, rape and torture against the Anuak population in the remote southwestern region of Gambella since December 2003.



Check out this link to Genocide Watch to learn about the definition of genocide, the stages of genocide, and more.

I'm curious what others think about the best way to define genocide. Should we set the threshold low, so that genocide can be declared at the earliest possible point of an ethnically charged massacre? Would that result in too much outside interference with countries' internal affairs? Personally, I have some resistance to the idea that we have to sit back and wait for Ethiopia's situation to reach the "stage" of genocide before anything can be done within the strictures of international law. At some point pre-genocide gains enough steam to make definitional genocide a fait accompli. Why not step in then? Why not even earlier? We punish inchoate crimes all the time: conspiracy, eg. But these are open questions....

Paul - Iowa Coalition for Human Rights