Crisis in Sudan
Sixty years ago, the world looked
away as six million Jews were
slaughtered during the Holocaust.
Ten years ago, the world was silent
as eight hundred thousand Tutsis
were butchered in Rwanda.
The question we must now ask is:
Are we to repeat history in Sudan?
Background
Sudan
The largest country in Africa, Sudan has been in
near constant conflict since its independence
from the UK in 1956.
The first civil war between the
north and the south lasted from
1956 to 1972.
Map courtesy USAID
The second civil war began in
1983 and recently ended with the
signing of a peace treaty on
January 9, 2005.
This treaty does not address the atrocities in Darfur.
Darfur
Darfur is located in
western Sudan. The
region is 25% larger
than California, or about
the size of France.
Darfur is home to some
80 tribes and ethnic
groups divided between
nomads and sedentary
communities.
Map courtesy The Save Darfur Coalition
The Fur, Masaalit, Zaghawa, Jebel, Aranga, and
other African tribes have been the victims of
discrimination and repression by the
Government of Sudan.
From http://www.islamonline.net
In February 2003, two groups of African
Muslims launched an insurgency against
the government in Khartoum.
Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLA)
From www.bbc.co.uk
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)
From http://www.islamonline.ne
The SLA and JEM are fighting for
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socio-economic development for the region
an end to tribal militias
separation of state and religion
a power-sharing government
In response to the SLA/JEM uprising, the
Government of Sudan launched a military
campaign to destroy entire communities
of African farmers.
The government armed and organized
tribal militias (Janjaweed) to attack and
forcibly displace hundreds of thousands
of civilians.
Janjaweed fighters
The Janjaweed have destroyed
villages, killed men and boys, raped
women, razed crops, and destroyed
water wells.
The use of violence has been
massive and indiscriminate, with
civilians largely targeted.
Genocide in Darfur
Definition of “Genocide”
Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention
defines a genocide as “acts committed
with the intent to destroy, in whole or
part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious
group.”
These acts include
• “Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to
members of the group;
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions
of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part.”
The United States government, the German
government, the Parliament of the European
Union, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum's Committee on Conscience and Yad
Vashem have all accused Khartoum of
“genocide.”
While the United Nations has avoided the
term “genocide,” the UN has said that
“crimes against humanity and war crimes are
occurring in Darfur.”
Scorched earth tactics are being applied
throughout Darfur, including the deliberate
destruction of schools, wells, seed and
food supplies, making whole towns and
villages uninhabitable…I consider this to
be ethnic cleansing. I cannot find any
other word for it.
United Nations Undersecretary-general
for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland
Four hundred thousand innocent civilians
have died since the conflict began in
February 2003.
Tens of thousands of people have been
brutally murdered.
The vast majority of these victims are not
associated with the SLA or JEM rebels.
The only thing they have in common with
the rebels is a shared ethnicity.
From www.washingtonpost.com
Through the eyes of a child
Taha, age 13 or 14
Courtesy Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org
In the afternoon we returned from school and saw
the planes…Then they began the bombing. The
first bomb [landed] in our garden, then four bombs
at once in the garden. The bombs killed six people,
including a young boy.
Courtesy Brian Steidle
Burning of Um Zeifa village after Janjaweed looting and attack
The attack on my village happened early in the
morning. The Janjaweed and the Government
soldiers were divided into three groups and
each group had a different task.
The first group took every man between the
age of 18 and 40. They put them on trucks.
Another group looted our huts. And the last
group took the cattle. The Janjaweed told us
[the women] that they would bring our men
to Deleig. When we arrived in Deleig two
days later, we saw the dead bodies of our
men laying on the ground in the streets.
Female refugee, age 30
Deleig (West Darfur)
Copyright IRIN
Courtesybombing
Brian Steidle
This child was burned during a Darfur
raid.
Committee
on Conscience
A one-year old girl, Mihad Hamid, Museum
whose
lungs
were punctured by a bullet as
she
her
mother
escape
an attack
from helicopter
gunships
and
Thisand
man
lost
his legtried
aftertobeing
bombed
by Sudanese
government
aircraft.
Janjaweed marauders on their village in October 2004.
Courtesy Jerry Fowler, U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Through the eyes of a child
Aid Worker: What is going on here?
Leila: My hut burning after
being hit by a bomb.
Leila, age 9
Aid Worker: And here?
Leila: It’s a woman. She is
dead.
Aid Worker: Why is her face colored
in red?
Leila: Oh, because she has
been shot in the face.
Aid Worker: What is this vehicle?
Who is this in green?
Leila: That is a tank. The man
in green is a soldier.
Courtesy Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org
Sudanese government officials claim they are
trying to stop the Janjaweed. However,
attacks by the Janjaweed are often preceded
by air assaults by the Government of Sudan.
A Sudanese government
gunship (MI-24 Hind)
Courtesy Brian Steidle
The government of Sudan
bulldozed the Al Geer camp for
displaced persons after chasing
the people out in the middle of
the night.
Courtesy Brian Steidle
I was in my house with my wife and
children, when we suddenly heard some
shooting. So we went outside. There were
Janjaweed all around. They shot at me, in
the chest, but I survived. But they killed
my 3-year-old son, right in front of my
eyes.
Male refugee, age 45
Deleig (West Darfur)
The Refugee Crisis
Almost 2 million people have
been forced to flee from their
homes.
From http://www.didaweb.net
1,660,000 Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) are living in refugee
camps in Darfur.
203,000 Darfurians have fled to
refugee camps in neighboring
Chad.
WFP/Peter Smerdon
Morni camp, where nearly 70,000 internally displaced people have settled
Upon arriving at the camp sites, refugees
build minimal shelters with basic materials
such as wood, plastic sheeting and pieces
of cloth or blankets.
In some cases, the new arrivals do not
even have enough materials to build such
shelters and must settle under trees with
the few belongings they have.
Copyright IRIN
Courtesy Josh Estey / CARE
Courtesy WFP/Laura Melo
Courtesy Peter Biro
Most of these camps lack adequate
food, shelter, sanitation, clean
water and health care.
According to the World Health
Organization, 15,000 people a
month are dying from disease and
malnutrition in refugee camps.
Water
Access to water is very
limited. The large influx
of refugees has
overwhelmed available
water resources.
Courtesy International Rescue Committee
Even when water is available, the quality is often
unacceptable.
Courtesy International Rescue Committee
It is common for people to drink from puddles on
the ground and from open, unprotected wells.
Sanitation
Access to latrines and washing areas is
very limited, resulting in unsanitary living
conditions.
One quarter of reported
deaths in the camps are
caused by diarrhea. For
children under the age of
five, more than one third
of deaths are caused by
diarrheal diseases.
From www.basicministries.info/
Pit latrine
Food
After diarrhea, the second leading cause
of death in the refugee camps is
malnutrition.
Copyright CARE/Evelyn Hockstein 2004
Copyright CARE/Evelyn Hockstein 2004
AFP
Long lines for food
Copyright Peter Biro IRC
Copyright IRIN
Copyright Gerald Martone IRC
In the displacement camps, refugees
also face continued violence. They
are the target of murders, assaults,
and rapes even in the refugee camps.
This situation perverts the very
notion of “refuge.”
Because men are at greater risk of being
beaten or killed, women are often the ones
who leave the refugee camps in search of
firewood and water, thus putting
themselves at risk of rape, beatings or
death by the Janjaweed.
Courtesy Josh Estey/CARE
Courtesy Peter Biro
Copyright Evelyn Hockstein/Polaris
Through the eyes of a child
Mahmoud, age 13
Aid Worker: What’s
happening here?
Mahmoud: These men
in green are taking the
women and the girls.
Aid Worker: What are
they doing?
Mahmoud: They are
forcing them to be
wife.
Courtesy Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org
Associated Press Photo / Karel Prinsloo
YES!
Can we help?
Never doubt that a small
group of thoughtful committed
citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing
that ever has.
Margaret Mead
What the U.S. is Doing
The U.S. has done more than any other nation
in the world. However, we can and must do
more.
In the Senate, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
and Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) have introduced
the Darfur Accountability Act (S. 495).
In the House, a bipartisan group of
representatives has introduced the Darfur
Peace and Accountability Act (H.R. 3127).
S. 495 and H.R. 3127
These bills emphasize the key role that the US must
play in the international community to ensure that
those who commit crimes against humanity are held
accountable. Among other items, the legislation calls
for passage of a new UN Security Council resolution
that includes:
Imposing targeted sanctions;
Extending the current arms embargo to apply to the Government of Sudan;
Supporting a larger and stronger African Union force and urging
member states to provide assistance to the AU;
Insuring prompt prosecution of those responsible for the genocide
in an international court.
What You Can Do
Write a letter to your Representative and Senators
and ask them to support H.R. 3127 and S. 495.
Write President Bush and Secretary Rice and ask
them to raise the issue of Darfur at all international
meetings.
Wear a Dolls for Darfur pin.
Give pins to family and friends to wear.
Organize groups to create and send communal
postcards.
Send an email to family and friends telling them
about the atrocities in Darfur.
Donate money to relief efforts.
In the end, we will remember
not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King Jr.
For more information, go to
www.dollsfordarfur.org