Ten years ago the world witnessed an act of evil so extraordinary it challenged our imagination. The brutal slayings in Rwanda still has a lot of people asking "why?" It's in Rwanda that we saw the Hutus mercilessly kill nearly one million Tutsis in about three months - the fastest rate of killing since World War II.

Although some of the world's leaders including the United Nation have refuse to take responsibility for not preventing the genocide in Rwanda, I know there is one thing - still embedded in their minds when they think about Rwanda, and that is the fact that they had the chance and the manpower to stop the killings but they refused to utilize it because of their cowardice.

What happened in Rwanda cannot be fully explained in words. If the lessons have taught us anything, it is that ignorance is bliss. And this is something we should not let happen again - but we are!. Ten years later, we are still seeing genocide - in Sudan's Darfur region where the Arab Janjaweed militia, armed by Sudan's government, have taken to the villages killing tribal African men, teenage boys and gang-raping their women and girls.

Some 1,000 people from the region are being killed each week, and about one million black Africans have been driven from their homes by the lighter-skinned Arabs the Janjaweed. Some have fled to the refugee camps in neighboring Chad. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to smell genocide here. This is why I still believe there is not a lesson learned from Rwanda.

The world is tired of seeing freshly dug graves, images of mutilated body parts lying all over, the mass exodus of people to unhygienic refugee camps and thousands of houses burnt to the ground. I am not suggesting penetrating and blowing up Khartoum, but the world's leaders need to step up and do something.

I salute the African Union's introduction of an African Army. But for it to look real and to earn its respect in the world, it needs to be kept active. It's time to deploy men and women to serve where they are needed. The Sudanese in Chad and Darfur would be very happy to see an army they call their own standing up to protect them.

Mr. Annan has an opportunity here to amend wrongs previously made. We do not need to see a repeat of what happened in Rwanda. Rather than offer excuses, Mr. Annan needs to show the world what he stands for. Food, aid and medication are not enough for the poor refugees in the camps - more can be done.

And for the leaders of the first world, let's not rush to Sudan for its oil. It's time to tell the government in Khartoum that if they don't change their ways of governing, then approaches to doing business with them will soon change. Let us impose an oil embargo! I am sure this will send the point home.

For years, the people of Sudan have been hit by famine and hunger and now it's genocide in play. Let's not wait until we have another Rwanda on our palms. The blood poured is sure more than enough. The saying goes, "There is no place like home." The people who can really tell of their experience are the poor men, women and children living in the plague-ridden camp and the others in Darfur who still don't know what their fate holds. So it's time we make their dreams come true and let them know, in this world they are not alone.