Today’s Independent reports that up to half of Darfur's population has been trapped by renewed violence. The humanitarian crisis has become so alarming that Kofi Annan has alerted the Security Council to the deepening conflict which has been overshadowed by the war in Lebanon.
"As a result of the fighting and direct targeting of humanitarians, only 50 per cent of civilians affected by the conflict can be reached by humanitarian organisations. The rest, some 1.6 million people, are either inaccessible, or can only be reached by putting the lives of aid workers directly at risk." states Mr Annan. Villagers are fleeing to camps reporting "indiscriminate killings, rape and abduction. Several hundred militiamen attacked a group of women collecting shelter materials outside Kalma camp, south of Nyala, raping 17 of them".
Three months ago Sudanese rebels struck a peace deal with Khartoum that was to end a bloody conflict that killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced 1.8 million in Darfur. Since then rebel factions have turned on each other, the killing of black African civilians by Arab militias has resumed and aid convoys have come under attack. The Sudanese government has, meanwhile, stepped up its resistance to a fully fledged UN force taking over from an African observer mission.
The Security Council will discuss Mr Annan's assessment. He also laments the fact that the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission faces bankruptcy, despite a "relatively positive" outcome from a pledging conference last month (note: the AU force is a few thousand soldiers with no real powers who patrol an area about the size of France. I also think we in the West can afford a few million to support these soldiers too) . The AU mission's mandate expires on 30 September after which it had been hoped that the Khartoum government would agree to a 24,000-strong UN force being dispatched to the region with a more robust mandate than the AU observers. The UN now hopes to deploy an international force in January, but the Sudanese government has steadfastly disrupted preparations for it.
On Tuesday Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese President, declared: "We are determined to defeat any forces entering the country just as Hizbollah has defeated the Israeli forces. We are opposed to the deployment of American, British or other forces imposed by the Security Council."
According to Mr Annan, a plan to restrict the government-armed Janjaweed militia to designated areas has gone unheeded. Jan Egeland, the chief UN humanitarian officer, has said the situation is "going from real bad to catastrophic". About 14,000 aid workers have remained in Darfur despite the safety risk - 11 have been killed since the peace deal was signed. Some Darfur aid workers have been beaten to death by angry mobs, according to the UNHCR. The World Food Programme warned yesterday that a decline in donations might force it to scale back food rations for six million people in Sudan.
The situation in Sudan is appalling and getting worse. That it remains pretty well ignored by the world at last is an utter disgrace. Do we want another Rwanda? George W you did say "Not on my watch". As far as I am concerned, the rebels, the Janjaweed and the Khartoum government are scum. They have no regard for their people. The sooner they are all smashed, the better it will be for the people of Sudan it would seem.
Darfur
14 comments:
Thanks for posting. This is quite interesting.
And also utterly tragic...
Global warming may be an uderlying factor but it does not absolve what has gone on. the real villains remain as ever the ones doing the killing and those who control the ones doing the killing.
as for the distinction between civilians and rebels.. Okay they are all guilty kill them all let god sort them out. That is the usual thing is it not Sonia?
This is without a doubt the worst humanitarian crisis on the face of the earth (the whole nation of Africa could fall under this banner). I read somewhere that the killing in Darfur is beginning to slow down, but that's only because the majority of the people there have been killed.
Again, how can anyone denounce what was done in the holocaust and turn their eyes away from Darfur? Some of it is racism, but the U.S.' apathetic role towards Africa has been horrible. It's one incident in which I can honestly say I am ashamed of my country's role.
It is an appalling humanitarian crisis that is largely ignored. That is why it I am angry.. My anger may be futile but so be it. It just goes on and on.
It may be as Sonia said above an early sign of what global warming will do to the world but it does not make it right. It does not absolve the Janjaweed, the rebels or the dick swinging President of Sudan.
Sonia, global warming does not divide the population like this elsewhere.
Jams,
Okay they are all guilty kill them all let god sort them out
Well, I actually meant it the other way. In my opinion, 'the rebels' are just those civilians who are trying to defend themselves. I don't want to kill (or punish) anybody in Sudan.
Redwine,
Sonia, global warming does not divide the population like this elsewhere.
Well, so far only in Sudan did they hit a trifecta:
1. An ecological disaster - desert destroying pastures, forcing cattle herders into agricultural lands.
2. A racial conflict - most cattle herders are light-skin Arabs, while the sendentary farmers are all black Africans.
3. A foreign conflict being 'exported' - Janjaweed is a BLACK Arab militia movement, formed during Libyan occupation of Chad - mostly Chad citizens who collaborated with the Libyans, and who fled to Sudan after Chad expelled the Libyans.
And it's not even a religious conflict - all participants are Muslims...
My apologies for implying you might have such sentiments Sonia.
Thge causes you put forward Sonia may well explain how Darfur has gotten into its horrendous situation whichever. My hope is for the people to have a way out of it.
Time for a minor history lesson that is sorely needed. In order to understand Africa and parts of Asia
we have to toss the myth of internationalism for the reality of hyper nationalism
The country lines in Africa were drawn arbitrarily by the colonial powers. Sudan is the worst example of a state constructed with no logic. The North is Arab Muslims and the South was black Christan with some black muslims. There is a history of hostility between the groups and it was folly to lump them together.
Even familiar nations such as Pakistan are a collection of different ethnic groups Pashtun, Punjabis, Baluch, Mohajairs and Sindhs. People tend to identify themselves with the regional cluster like Baloch.
Many ethnicities you assume are uniform are not. Iran is merely 53% Persian and there are around six or seven subnationalities.
Is the answer to create new states like Chechoslavakia? Is the answer
more state autonomy.
Hypernationalism is not going away
and it is folly to discount its obvious serious draw backs.
Beakerkin,
You are right. Imagine what would have happened if the Africans invaded Europe and then decided to create a country that would include Western Poland, Central Germany and Eastern France (and another stretching from Southern Germany to French Switzerland to Northern Italy)...
Civil wars would never end...
Beakerkin, Sonia no disagreement from me on this as the underlying cause for many of Africa's problems.
History lessons are welcome, Beakerkin. This one doesn't bring me anything new but thanks all the same. the very name Pakistan intends to reflect its diverse ethnic groupings Punjabi, Afghan, Kashmiri and so on and so forth.
Sonia
That is part of the problem but there are subtle parts as well. Africa suffers from a series of cultural probless. Coruption is endemic and considered a way of life.
Then there is the issue of stable responsible governance. Some dreamer was thinking about extending the Indian or Chinese miracle to Africa.
It is highly unlikely that this could ever work.
1 A stable responsible governance
even one commited to lining its pockets like the Chinese. The key is the countries can't be in flux.
2 Commitment to first class education as human capital in the long run returns better results then comodities which fluctuate in price. A Software engineer is an asset with value.
This education is impossible with factionalism. Build a school and classes are disrupted by rebels or thieves.
3 A serious attempt at enforcing some law. Long term projects like schools, factories can not be built with arbitraty legal processes.
To say that Africa can not achieve
these factors is racist. However given the coruption, factionalism,
, arbitrary legal systems and unstable governance the Indian or Chinese models remain wishful thinking.
One of the sore points is Haiti. I would love to see the US textile quotas reduced from China and India
and given to Haiti. Yet the investments will not be made as the country is constantly in turmoil.
"Hypernationalism is not going away" - perfectly true. And unfortunately the once internationalist left is extremely nationalistic nowadays. (So was Stalinism and Maoism,and exaggerated nationalism manifest in the whole eastern bloc) - a fact not many would confess nowadays. You are also right about corruption - a regular past in most of these countries+the whole ex socialist bloc. Factionalism woiuld be another: also a characteristic of many artificial entities which could never develop freely before.
Ngugi wa Thiongo had a great name for the corrupt: wa Benzi -the tribe that drives Mercs!
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