"Tens of thousands of civilians have been murdered and thousands of women raped in Sudan’s western region of Darfur by Sudanese government soldiers and members of the government-supported militia sometimes referred to as the Janjaweed. About 2 million civilians have been driven from their homes, their villages torched and their property stolen by the Sudanese military and the Janjaweed. Some of the victims have escaped to neighboring country of Chad, but most are trapped inside Darfur. Thousands die each month from the effects of inadequate food, water, health care, and shelter in a harsh desert environment. All are afraid to return home because the countryside is not safe.

Read past and current news stories about Darfur.

The ethnic and perceived racial basis of the violence has been documented by the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations, independent human rights organizations, and international journalists. The Sudanese government primarily has targeted the civilian population of the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masaalit ethnic groups, sometimes referred to as "Africans." The government's Janjaweed allies are drawn from some of Darfur's "Arab" tribes. Sudan's Khartoum-based government is fueling ethnic and racial violence by using the militia as proxies against Darfur insurgents who launched a rebellion in early 2003. But it is civilians who are suffering. Government-sponsored actions include:

INFLAMING ethnic conflict


IMPEDING international humanitarian access, resulting in deadly conditions of life for displaced civilians


BOMBING civilian targets with aircraft


MURDERING and RAPING civilians



Darfurians who have fled the violence provide chilling testimony. One refugee told New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof that “the Arabs want to get rid of anyone with black skin. . . . There are no blacks left [in the area I fled].”

The death toll exceeds 100,000 and may be more than 400,000. And the crisis continues—the lives of hundreds of thousands more hang in the balance today." (http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/)

The people on Darfur need your help. If you are interested in helping stop this genocide there are many things you can do. You can start by going to this site and sending this letter to the president.

This are some picture I found, I hope that they are not deleted because this is reality and we cannot hide from it. This is just to put a face to the genocide. It's real.



"A displaced mother with her sick child at the hospital in El Fasher in the western region of Darfur in Sudan, June 25, 2004."



"The charred remains of huts after an attack by Janjaweed militias in Sudan's northern Darfur village of Bandago on April 29, 2004"





High resolution photo available for public use.
Credit: Brian Steidle
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Refugees in Menawashi, Darfur. Approximately 7,000 came to Menawashi in just a few days.



The Janjaweed divided the loot they had collected from the village of Um Ziefa among their families.



This is the beginning of the burning of the village of Um Zeifa after the Janjaweed looted and attacked.



Fifteen animals were stolen from the Janjaweed, so in return, the Janjaweed burned 15 villages. This is one of those villages.



The government of Sudan bulldozed the Al Geer camp for displaced persons after chasing the people out in the middle of the night.



Victim outside of the village of Adwa. Nearby we found a bone field that was 50 meters x 50 meters. We didn’t know who these people were or where they came from.

So now that you know, what are you going to do?

NO invasion! Strong foriegn relations, huge global awareness, firm diplomacy and solid convictions!!!!!!!
however....
it seems to me that diplomacy only works if the leaders in power have conviction!; and represents the voice of the people! Bush did and has niether. and far cry from a human rights activist as they come. (plus illiterate)WHAT i'm say'n is a president has great power and influence.less we forget...
(i'm gonna bushbash.sorry)
the bush administration has stiffled progress in american politics and annexed us from the world... and hope. despair for 7 years.He's run on deception, fear, ignorance and irresponsibility for 7 tiring years.

thank God he's leavin'.

COME ON GUYS, THE WITCH IS DEAD. long live the united states.
God save the human race.(and cheetos).

I agree that this cause needs help, and I also understand about how if we give money to Darfur, the government will take it, etc. I have supported this problem for a while. So while there may be no solution yet, we may find one. I've learned about what those people go through, and I'm not just going to stand by and let it happen over and over again. I'll do whatever I can to help Darfur.

quote:

Originally posted by clpo13:
Invade them with who, exactly? We're already stretched thin enough as it is being in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And then there are all the soldiers in other countries...even National Guard units are being sent overseas.

We couldn't invade Sudan even if we wanted to. Unless you're proposing conscription. But that would never fly. Unless you went back and time and stopped the Vietnam conflict from ever happening, which would mean conscription wouldn't have the negative connotations it currently has.

Oh that's right, I forgot the military is in shambles. Every marine and soldier we have is bogged down in the Iraq quagmire. We have no one else.

Invade them with who, exactly? We're already stretched thin enough as it is being in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And then there are all the soldiers in other countries...even National Guard units are being sent overseas.

We couldn't invade Sudan even if we wanted to. Unless you're proposing conscription. But that would never fly. Unless you went back and time and stopped the Vietnam conflict from ever happening, which would mean conscription wouldn't have the negative connotations it currently has.

We should invade them just as we did in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am in favor of stopping the genocide of anyone.

quote:

Originally posted by YouthVoice:

quote:

You can call 1-800-GENOCIDE, and they will connect you to the President for free - ask him to sign SADA.

It was signed!

yessss! I am so glad to hear that legislation is getting passed with this. They are finally getting the ball rolling.

quote:

You can call 1-800-GENOCIDE, and they will connect you to the President for free - ask him to sign SADA.

It was signed!

there is a great book to read about darfur and the genocide. it's called Not on Our Watch: the mission to end genocide in darfur and beyond [by don cheadle and john prendergast].

In case everybody hasn't been following too closely as to what's happening concerning the situation in Darfur, there has been one good thing recently...SADA (Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act) has been passed by both houses (YAY!). Now it's just waiting to be signed by the President. This legislation protects states who divest from the worst offending companies in Sudan, so it is really important.


As far as peacekeepers are concerned, they will not be effective if they aren't properly funded. The United States needs to keep up with its obligation to help fund the UN-AU hybrid force. At the current time, they deployment is expected to be delayed....again. Though the delay isn't due entirely to a lack of funding (President Omar Al-Bashir is also a culprit), it is still a major reason.


So...instead of just talking about what's going on, you could actually do something to help. You can call 1-800-GENOCIDE, and they will connect you to the President for free - ask him to sign SADA. Also, get in touch with your state's representatives and ask them to fund the peacekeepers.

And if you REALLY want to help, join or start a STAND chapter. STAND is a partner of the Genocide Intervention Network and is entirely student run.

Let's do more than just talk about how horrible genocide is.

if we let this go what is our world going to is this whole world gonna turn a blind eye like they did to rawanda we have to help stop this there are many ways we could go about it its not right for people to just say whatever theres nothing we can do when theres so many diffrent ways to go about it if not directly then somehow anyway

To me, there are many charities trying to stop it, but they need to come together as one big charity to see results, as every day goes by I am frusturated by this.

If anyone is interested, I am thinking of starting a website about saving Darfur. Talk to me for more information.

theres got to be a way to solve this problem or something we can do to help thats awful and we dont need to world to turn a blind eye like most of it did a rawanda ??

quote:

Sudan is ARAB in the first place!

Could you please explain what you're trying to aim at with this statement?

Sudan is ARAB in the first place!

quote:

Originally posted by MagicKiss:
There must be a way that this can be stopped. What is being done so far?

I ran an Amnesty group and here's what I read a month or so ago;
Peacekeepers have been sent but are blockwalled from helping civilians via the Sudanese gov. Looks like they want to destroy ethnicity, afterall, they are funding the Janjawid.
There have been cease fire agreements but they aren't thoroughly enforced and often disregarded.
Aid is coming through, but at great risk to aid workers. Some zones are restricted and aren't getting any.

But read very carefully;
Even if peacekeeping forces are deployed, they might not be able to do much because of a lack of support from the international community. The nations that gave peacekeepers have probably sent an ill equipped and underfunded project so that they can claim they did something. Even if proper aid reaches Darfur, it'll probably be in specific areas where governments and NGOs can get photo opportunities to look good.
If you don't believe me, read "Shaking Hands with the Devil" by Romeo Dallaire. As you read, go outside, talk to friends and family, live life cause it gnaws at you.

Africa in general is a conflicted continent mutilated by colonialism and civil war and left to rot for centuries.

There must be a way that this can be stopped. What is being done so far?

I am no expert on this subject. But see, we cant just say there's nothing we can do. There are a million actions we could take, we just need to find the right one. We have to have faith that the right solution is out there, and that we can achieve it, but that we all have to be willing to try and find it together. But if we all take a hopeless attitude, we will never have that drive that could empower us to change things. We have to want it, but we also really have to believe that we can do it.

THAT'S VERY SAD

quote:

How is it really democratic if we only accept it if it goes according to our rules, and interest and what we want? Let them choose "as long as" is not letting them choose.

That's the problem. But it's been the United States' foreign policy since World War 2. It's also been the reason for most of the wars we've gotten ourselves into since then (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq). All in the name of allowing people to be "free."

quote:

But that's the problem, "obvious cases like genocide" are not so obvious, people were debating for a while if this was actually genocide, simply to not have to get involved.

I'm not saying we shouldn't get involved, but it really shouldn't rest on the shoulders of a single country. Unfortunately, the rest of the world is unwilling to do anything, considering how the United States has been the most powerful country for so long. Everyone's learned to rely on us to do everything. But we shouldn't have to.