Saturday, May 01, 2004
What will the world do this time?
In the Darfur region of Sudan, refugees flee the Janjaweed militia. Francesco Zizola/Magnum Photos
Just weeks after commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the tragedy of the Rwandan Genocide, could it be happening all over again? Read on:
The Darfur region of western Sudan is one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth, which makes it an ideal place to get away with ethnic cleansing. Since late last year, an Arab militia called the Janjaweed has killed thousands of darker-skinned non-Arabs and driven about one million from their homes. Most of the refugees are still in Sudan, many of them in squalid camps, the children dying of malnutrition and measles. An additional 110,000 refugees have crossed into Chad. Even there they are not safe: the Janjaweed regularly raid across the border.from "Attacked, Expelled, Ignored" by Nicholas D. Kristof. (New York Times)
The killing here is not about religion, as it is elsewhere in Sudan. It is largely about race and ethnicity -- and the age-old tension between nomadic herdsmen and settled farmers. A low-level rebellion began in Darfur a year ago, backed by some of the local tribespeople. The government responded by arming the Janjaweed, paying them and giving them helicopter support in scorched-earth operations intended to empty the countryside.
After President Bush, Kofi Annan and others spoke out earlier this month against the ethnic cleansing, Sudan agreed to a cease-fire in Darfur and promised humanitarian access to the victims. But the State Department has suggested that Sudan breached the cease-fire on its first day, and the United States Agency for International Development says that even in the best of circumstances -- even if the fighting stops -- 100,000 people in Darfur will die of disease and malnutrition. Meanwhile, the world seemed to spend more time observing the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and solemnly vowing ''never again'' than actually doing something to prevent a recurrence in Darfur.
Related reading:
- Arab marauders have killed thousands in Sudan's Darfur region and forced a million from their homes. What will the world do this time? (full story from Newsweek)
