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Thursday, April 27, 2006
Darfur: An ethnic cleansing in process
Posted by Jacqueline Henretta
Some background on Sudan:
The largest country in Africa, the Republic of Sudan, lies directly south of Egypt. The Nile river not only provides a livelihood for Egypt, it is also extremely crucial for Sudan’s agriculture, and its tributaries act as a lifeline to its people.
Up until the late 1890’s Sudan was under Egyptian rule. In 1898 the United Kingdom gained control and essentially divided Sudan into two separate colonies, North and South. For almost 6 decades they remained divided until claiming independence on January 1, 1956.
Civil war and egregious human rights violations including rape, torture, and down right slaughter have dominated the national life in Sudan since the country became independent. Its capital is Khartoum and the official language is Arabic although many other dialects and languages are spoken.
AIDs and HIV are prominent in Sudan with over 400,000 (known) people infected with the disease and an estimated 23,000 deaths annually, extremely high for a population of that size. With the unemployment rate at almost one-fifth of the country’s residents, it is no wonder why more than 40 % of the population live far below the poverty line.
Sudan borders many different countries, as well as the Red Sea, and in result civil war is ever present leaving its 40 million residents dependent on humanitarian aid. Despite the fact thousands of the Sudanese people are starving to death, the government denies this dire aid to its people.
For many years the conflict in and around Darfur was mostly over clean water and land resources (desertification has been a serious problem, so geographically speaking Sudan is suffering) but since 2003 it has escalated to a new height involving religion, race and culture. The aforementioned factors led to the disparities between North and South Sudan as well as in the present Darfur conflict.
Where is Darfur?
Darfur is a region in the Western area of Sudan bordering Chad and the Central African Republic. Although in the past 50 years civil war was in progress more often than not, a major conflict broke out in 2003 when the two allied rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement attacked military installations.
The Sudanese militia, (more commonly know as the “Janjaweed” a self-proclaimed nomadic militia) sets out to contain any one who dares to defy the Sudanese government. These men systematically contain and slowly murder their refugees, whether it be by starvation or by poisoning their crops. There are no boundaries in this genocide.
Although for over a year the Sudanese government denies any ties to the Janjaweed, survivors of the violence, who overcame extreme starvation as well as horrific torture methods, testify otherwise. These claims of government involvement range from supplying the Janjaweed with guns, horses, uniforms, communication equipment, to poisons and other options of warfare such as air reconnaissance from government aircrafts.
"It’s absurd to distinguish between the Sudanese government forces and the militias - they are one. These documents show that militia activity has not just been condoned, it’s been specifically supported by Sudan government officials.” Peter Takirambudee said in an investigation.
With this coalition of the government and Janjaweed militia, the people of Darfur have no chance of surviving. Whether or not the people doing these investigations will blatantly admit the Sudanese government is behind this genocide, the people of this region are being openly gathered, contained and slaughtered by the government and its adversaries, either first hand or by turning a blind eye.
Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are being picked off because they have darker skin, participate in different religions, or they might just have a clean water source. While almost 300 thousand have been murdered, three times as many are being displaced from their homes, forced to wander aimlessly, no doubt to receive the same fate as their fallen friends. This ethnic cleansing must cease and desist. The United States can no longer pretend Rwanda, and the holocaust are events of the past. It is happening again, right now in many places around the world, not just in Darfur. I suggest we focus our resources and time on helping these countries who are being cleansed, rather than trying to get a supply of oil.
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27 Apr 2006 at 10:54 pm | #
AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!
Time to clean up the waste. Who is with me?
27 Apr 2006 at 11:18 pm | #
Good post. What a truly tragic situation.
People don’t understand what is going on. A nation at war is expending tremendous resources and producing less because the people aren’t being taken care of. They have a civil war (oxymoron) and it is being funded on both sides from outside. Those that are fighting aren’t producing anything, instead they are destroying everything.
Don’t hold your breath while waiting for our country to do anything in the interest of the people. We are preoccupied with the war on terror in far off lands. This is a way for large corporations to profit and pile more debt on us, while they are globalizing and destroying our homeland. Are we better off than we were 6 years ago? I think not.
In “The Art of War” Sun Tsu says that if you are fighting a war far afield. For every five wagons of supplies you send only one will arrive. The rest is lost to profiteers, thieves, transportation costs, graph and corruption. We are doing just that today in Iraq and Afghanistan. 20% of what we are spending actually gets to the battlefield. The 80% goes to Halliburton, KBR, Bechtel and many others. Our soldiers don’t have protective gear but our CEO’s have mansions.
We must stop the war on terror because our greatest threat is the terrorists in Washington DC. We need to begin publishing voting records and not re-elect people that don’t act in our interest. We need to make the media accountable for their actions and when they don’t tell us the truth, change media sources.
27 Apr 2006 at 11:44 pm | #
Dave, you seem to think it is a great article on their struggle, but then you say the problem is that we are already involved in a similar struggle.
Dave, do you think that we should do anything to help these people? Should we step in and stop the genocide?
It is genocide. The whole world will do nothing until the United States is prepared to act.
I bet you liberals don’t give a damn about what is actually happening there. You express mock outrage. But if Uncle Sam went over there to fight for freedom you would protest in the streets.
It is a down and dirty world. You can deal with it or you can lament the fact that nobody has the courage to tackle the tough issues of the day. Thank God for George Bush. That man actually gives a damn and does something to right the wrongs and challenge injustice. All you do is bitch and complain with no substance.
God Bless America
28 Apr 2006 at 07:49 am | #
Thanks Dave, yes it is extremely tragic to think so many people are being murdered, young children are starving to death and all their mothers can do is wait and watch. I can’t imagine being a mother and watching my child slowly waste away. Something needs to be done and soon, it is already mid 2006 it has been going on for over 3 years. If I could go to one of these countries that are suffering so badly, and do anything to help, I would in an instant.
Dave?-
I think we “bitch and complain” when we go to a war with alterior motives, or when the motive of taking Suddam has been accomplished we are still there, for what?
I think an extreme case of genocide we really do need to get involved. If not us, other allied countries. But someone needs to do something about it, and I am afraid you are probably right that we would have to start for anyone else to join the bandwagon. But we should get our troops out of regions where they are not needed and focus more on these genocides and ethnic cleansings of the world, if not with troops with more supplies, more food, more water. They are starving to death.
28 Apr 2006 at 09:34 am | #
Thanks for drawing attention to Darfur!!!
I am in Europe and can’t attend the Darfur rallies across the U.S. on April 30th. Therefore I am organizing an online rally for Darfur together with many other German Bloggers.
I blog for the Atlantic Review, a press digest on transatlantic affairs edited by three German Fulbright Alumni.
28 Apr 2006 at 10:06 am | #
J.H., good to remind us of what’s going on. Now if only the war racketeers could be reminded.
Everyone should watch the movie Hotel Rwanda and its similar version produced by PBS. They’re both excellent and shed light on what genocide looks like. It’s pure insanity, if you’ll allow the juxtaposition. The day in the town market looks like any other and then suddenly a half dozen rag-tag thugs with machetes and assault rifles pop out of trucks to round up others like cattle. Very quickly thereafter you see body parts strung out all over the streets. And then people go back to their entranced daily business. Imagine these short, quick mass killings repeated several times a day, every single day. Can anyone imagine this lasting for more than a couple of months let alone several years?? This is what institutional genocide in a country is like – worse than a nightmare because you can’t wake up from this. Most of us can’t stomach just one animal being harvested much less this.
The U.N could step in to stop it. It could all be over in a matter of days! However, there are always too many “documents” and “contracts” sitting in file cabinets all across the World that haven’t made it to the table yet. We all know this. This isn’t anything new. We all know that moneymaking business comes first. The U.S. is not the only country complicit in this “lockout.” Eventually, some group will knock on enough doors, write enough letters or call enough offices to where another group will have one of that wakeup at 3:30 in the morning moments to which they will scurry over to dig up the business most relevant to Sudan. And then that group will tell the other groups to dig up their business, which will keep the ball rolling. Until then it has to make sense in terms of “sound business principles.”
28 Apr 2006 at 10:58 am | #
Dave? He didn’t say it was a similar struggle and it’s not. He said it was for the war profiteers not for freedom. How can Bush deliver democracy there while stealing elections here? He can’t. His only motivation is to enrich his buddies and family in the arms business.
28 Apr 2006 at 01:59 pm | #
* Tens of Thousands Expected for DC Demonstration Against Darfur Genocide *
On Sunday, tens of thousands are expected to gather in Washington for a
demonstration against the ongoing genocide in Sudan. We speak with Joe
Madison president of the Sudan Campaign.
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/28/1440201
28 Apr 2006 at 05:05 pm | #
Jacquie you are one hot momma!!!!!!! I wanna be your baby’s daddy.
28 Apr 2006 at 07:09 pm | #
I am traveling with Butler University this weekend to attend the rally in Washington DC. It is a sad state of affairs when humanitarian intervention is based upon how much America will benefit from the action. It again all goes back to irrational, arbitrary, and dangerous nationalism. The UN needs to toughen up instead of being a worthless, empty title. Capitalism, also needs to check itself. Not only does it abuse human labor and dignity, but also the rights of livestock and the animals we eat—not to mention the environment. COSMOPOLITANISM!
28 Apr 2006 at 07:13 pm | #
The fact Dubya doesn’t want the US national anthem sung in Spanish says most of what you need to know about why Lady Liberty will continue to avert her eyes from Darfur.
28 Apr 2006 at 08:01 pm | #
David, Yes I find it really discouraging that he would be against children singing the national anthem in spanish. It is as if Bush is saying we accept all kinds, all races, creeds, religions, cultures, “but you’re gonna have to sing it in American, yee haw”.
Bartholomew Jay, yeah, haha I don’t really know what to say, except, how do you know what I look like?
28 Apr 2006 at 08:29 pm | #
Will someone phonetically print how to say “nuclear” in Spanish?
I am prepared to be uplifted.
We can only hope Dubya’s sister-in-law down in Florida is preparing a turd-in-hat Christmas present for brer-in-law.
And how ‘bout them “brown” nieces and nephews?
29 Apr 2006 at 05:38 am | #
Sudan has lots of Oil. If we stepped in and did something people would be protesting the war for oil. Sadaam was a genocidal maniac too. THe same people who protest us not doing anything would be the first ones to protest us doing something.
29 Apr 2006 at 12:02 pm | #
I met you once last year. You are a nice girl… really nice! ow ow.
29 Apr 2006 at 01:58 pm | #
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4954096.stm
30 Apr 2006 at 02:09 pm | #
I’m watching the cspan coverage on the protest in Washington to bring attention to the genocide in Darfur. George and Nick Clooney just returned from the area and spoke before Congress on the issue about which we should all be standing together in outrage. An enormous crowd, young and old, men and women, white and white. Where are the black American voices calling for justice for the people of Darfur? Same thing when Haiti was under siege. As usual, the protesters were 99% white. You’d think at least the African American student community would show some interest.
30 Apr 2006 at 03:33 pm | #
Darfur: An ethnic cleansing in process
Whoever wrote the title probably meant “progress” rather than “process,” although “process” connotes meat-grinding, and ethnic cleansing is the opposite of progress.
Words are funny that way.
30 Apr 2006 at 03:50 pm | #
From now on I will send you my articles so you can spell check them.
30 Apr 2006 at 08:09 pm | #
Jacquie Henretta,
Have you ever heard of Arlene Peck?
That’s how we started out. Now she hates my guts.
Oh well, I’m willing to give it a shot if you are.