Darfur- A Deadly Conflict

This is our last assignment for the Human Rights Unit. It is all about the Darfur conflict.

For about four years now, since 2003, Darfur and Sudan have been at war. In Sudan, the conflict has arisen to more than 400,000 murders, the rape and assaults of thousands of women and girls, and more than 2 million people being forced to leave their homes. These innocent civilians have to live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in Chad. International aid is the only help men, women, and children in this genocide can rely on for aid. Ethnicity is the problem that has resulted in the killing of thousands of innocent people. The Sudanese armed forces and Sudanese government-backed militia or “Janjaweed” have attacked civilian populations and ethnic groups from the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa. These groups have been targeted because they support the rebels. The rebels want the Sudanese government to address ‘underdevelopment and the political marginalization’ of the Darfur region. The Janjaweed have claimed that this confilct is not genocide, when in fact millions of people are suffering and hundreds of thousands are being killed by other people. Although the Sudanese government says this is not genocide, the Bush Administration states that it is.

“The largest and most complex humanitarian problem on the globe” is the reaction from António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. At first, people went with what the Janjaweed said that all of this was ‘ethnic cleansing’. Now everyone realizes this situation is not ethnic cleansing, but genocide. The Sudanese government and the Janjaweed have been blamed for all of the destruction they have caused including the burning and destruction of hundreds of rural villages, the killing of tens of thousands of people, and rape and assault of thousands of women and girls. The Darfur Peace Agreement from May 2006 may help the government of Sudan and one faction of Darfur rebels stop the conflict. The UN Security Council also required that the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed be disarmed. With these actions, the Janjaweed are still free to commit these genocidal crimes with the Sudanese government, just as they had been doing.

There are some who don’t know anything about Darfur, which would be a reason for not helping. The ones who have heard about the disastrous events happening in Darfur usually don’t do anything about it. They may think that one person can’t save the world, but what they don’t know is that they can make a difference. If it’s not that they don’t think they can help, then it’s mostly out of selfishness. Most people wouldn’t want to spend the time or money to help because they have better things to do with their time and money, or they think that since this problem is happening overseas and it doesn’t involve them. People like António Guterresis who states that this is “the largest and most complex humanitarian problem on the globe” is one of the many people who just speak about what they think, but that don’t take any action. Jan Egeland also falls in the category, who states this is "going from real bad to catastrophic,” but hasn’t done anything about his words. The UN is no help when they see what is happening but say that there were no intentions of genocide.

There are many governments and people with the power to halt the genocide, and could have even prevented it. Since, they feel it has nothing to do with them since this is happening all the way over in Africa, they don’t bother. They’d rather not waste their time or money to try and help people who actually need it because they have better things to do, like some average people in the country. We have people left and right describing the horrors in Darfur like Antonio and Jan, but that isn’t making what they’re saying any better by just stating it. Despite these people, there are many who have made an effort. Kids have done their share by holding fundraisers. At our school, T-shirts are being sold to raise money for Darfur. I see many who wear these T-shirts, which is a sign that many are trying to help.