For the past month, ethnic violence has devastated Kenya, one of Africa’s most developed and historically stable countries.

This is not the first time Africa has suffered from ethnic violence. In Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Congo, Angola and many others, ethnic violence has rocked already shaky post-colonial states.

World leaders have failed to recognize the severity of the situation in Kenya and have instead used meaningless diplomatic rhetoric to avoid the harsh reality. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the situation “deeply concerning,” and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the situation was “unacceptable.”

The Kenyan government claimed Monday that it didn’t have the necessary police to control the country and wasn’t able to prevent machete-wielding mobs from lynching the men, women and children who belong to rival ethnic groups.

There is a solution for Kenya and it can be repeated when similar scenarios arise — as they undoubtedly will — across the future post-colonial world.

The Kenyan government says it needs more police, so it should get more. It would be unwise, however, for the government to deputize and arm its own population, which could escalate violence to even greater levels.

The solution is to send in U.N. peacekeepers to prevent Kenya from falling into anarchy and mass genocide.

Sending the “blue helmets” to Kenya will also provide the U.N. with a badly needed role in the world. It’s almost impossible to find two people who can name three places where the U.N. is at work — and I don’t mean New York’s Upper East Side.

What the U.N. needs is a purpose that can sustain its relevancy in the 21st century. Kenya’s plight will become the rule, not the exception, in the wealth-polarizing years to come.

As countries move from authoritarian governments to democracies, ethnic tensions are bound to rise, whether in Bolivia, Nigeria or Turkey. The world, or at least its people, will want protection from genocide and ethnic cleansing if violent, radical forces do gain power in their countries. This is what the U.N. is built to do and what its motto proclaims: If thou hast no sympathy for the troubles of others, thou art unworthy to be called by the name of a human.

The U.N. was built to help people, its member states and humanity as a whole. Now during one of its most trustworthy member’s time of need, it has forgotten her.