October 4, 2007 (LPAC)--Some of the false axioms that all the anti-Sudan propaganda relating to the crisis in Darfur, was taken head on by a group of elder statesmen. At a press conference in Sudan at the end of the trip by four veteran statesmen, Jimmy Carter said that the atrocities in Darfur were horrible, but they did not meet the legal standard of genocide. The group's visit was preceded by the killing of 10 of the African Union peacekeepers in Sudan, by anti-government rebels. Their deaths at the hands of the well-armed rebels (the peacekeepers ran out of ammunition) threw a different light on crisis in Darfur: The press always blames the Sudan government for the violence there.

Another member of the group, veteran UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, stated that the international community has acted irresponsibly in the past, by pampering the rebels without bothering to check if they represented anybody, and whether they were acting responsibly.

The group of four well-known international leaders--South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Graca Machel (wife of Nelson Mandela), and Brahimi--completed a two-day visit to Sudan, according to BBC today. The four are part of ``the Group of Elders'' that is chaired by Nelson Mandela.