Darfur

Did anyone watch 60 minutes the other night when they reported on Sudan?


Since February 2003 some 400,000 people have died (at least) in the Darfur region of Sudan. That equates to more than 500 people dying each day, or 15,000 each month. And because almost 90% of villages have been bombed or burned to the ground more than 3 million people have been driven from their homes. This includes the approximately 1.8 million children who have been affected, trapping them in the cycle of poverty. Almost 80% of the CHILDREN UNDER 5 years old are suffering from severe malnutrition and many are dying each day.  And as many as 1 million more people could die in Darfur from malnutrition and disease alone.


Currently Humanitarian aid organisations have access to only 20% of those affected and as of June this year UNICEF had a total of just $2.81 million in donor resources against its target of $89 million- So the programmes were just 3.1% funded for the entire first half of the year. Aid camps such as Zam zam in the north have only one doctor for around 40,000 people, and with refugees living under plastic sheets conditions are, frankly distressing. There is no where near enough clean water, A cholera outbreak is spreading and there are not enough food rations to provide LESS than what is required to sustain human life. And even in camps it is unsafe, The Janjaweed are always nearby.


The JANJAWEED (Defined by the UN as made up of fighters claiming an Arab speaking, black African background, the core of which are from an Abbala [camel herder] background, with significant recruitment from the Baggara [cattle herder] people) are a Sudanese government backed militia and are fighting two rebel groups, The Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) and The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), both of whom have stated their political aim as: “to compel the Sudanese government to address the underdevelopment and political marginalisation of the region (Darfur)”


The Janjaweed are the group responsible for the destruction of homes and lives, and they target civilians and the ethnic groups who make up rebel groups: The Fur, The Masalit and the Zaghawa.   Mia Farrow said in the Chicago Tribune on June 25, 2006   “Women speak of their losses in quiet voices- Beloved sons, husbands, brothers and fathers tortured, mutilated and murdered. They recount their rapes and show the brands carved into their skin. They reveal tendons sliced and how they hobble now.”


In early 2004 the African Union entered Darfur with 150 troops, This was later increased to 7000. On July 30, 2004, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1556, demanding the government disarms the Janjaweed. This demand is also an integral part of the agreement signed by the Sudanese government and a faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement, in may of this year. During July and August fighting was renewed, Prompting the UN to authorise a strong peace keeping force for Darfur by passing resolution 1706.


The Janjaweed are still active, and free to commit the same genocide crimes against civilians in Darfur with the aid of the Sudanese government.


While one could be excused for thinking that there is nothing an individual could do, I don’t think anyone should be excused. We can at the very least spread the word.


“The world has failed Africa, so Africa has failed Darfur.”


Information from: www.savedarfur.com, www.stopgenocidenow.org, www.darfurgenocide.com, www.gng.org, www.janjaweed.com, www.sudanreeves.com, www.unicef.org