The Darfur Genocide

I have recently learned of this situation through Right Wing Guy and I am disappointed with myself for not picking up on it sooner. Though I do pay more attention to sub-Saharan Africa, I should have caught this. Kudos to Right Wing Guy for bringing it to my attention.

If you go to any site about this atrocity, you won't go far without seeing the data of over 450,000 killed and over 2.5 million displaced Darfur citizens. Just a bit of background: Darfur is an area of western Sudan with borders of Chad on the northern side and Central African Republic on the southern.

According to Genocide Intervention the situation has been on going since 2003. The Darfur region, about the size of Texas, contains racially mixed African tribe peasants and Arab nomadic herders. The majority of people identify as Muslim. Due to years of poverty and neglect, two groups began an uprising against the ruling Sudanese government in the north, the Khartoum government. The government's response has become the Darfur Genocide. (There are two ruling entities in Sudan, one in the north and one in the south, which was a war of its own. You can get a brief run-down at the Sudan Tribune.

The Sudanese Government began killing and raping Darfurians and enlisted the help of Arab nomadic tribes, the Janjaweed, to continue the onslaught. Remember, the Darfur region is in the west of Sudan, and Chad is the northwestern border of Darfur. The Sudanese government is helping Chadian rebels to conduct the same types of attacks, thus enveloping the Darfur region with atrocities.

The Darfurian area rebels have banded together somewhat to form the National Redemption Front (NRF) to counter the Sudanese government. The NRF did reportedly have a cease fire, but have since called it off due to rapes allegedly by the Janjaweed. The UN sent Special Envoy Jan Pronk to talk to the Sudanese government, but he was expelled from the country. The US, EU, African Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have all weighed in on this topic.

Now, all this being said, I must put aside some of my own personal feelings to support something I think needs it. A lot of the information and voice on this issue in the US is coming from some of my least favorite places (The Washington Post, The New York Times, Lieberman, and General Kofi Annan). But, I'm willing to look past the source when right is right. Let's see if we can't help.