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World
Recognizes Refugee Crisis in Sudan |
Posted:
07.05.04
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More than 10,000 people have died and an estimated 1 million
people have been displaced in the growing humanitarian crisis
in the Darfur region of western Sudan in Africa. Militias have
targeted civilians in attacks that the United Nations has warned
could rival the 1994 genocide in Rwanda in which more than 800,000
people died.
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"The people of Darfur are suffering a catastrophe -- terrible
crimes have been committed against them," U.N. Secretary- General
Kofi Annan said at a recent news conference.
The killings of mostly black African Muslims have been blamed
on an Arab militia, large loosely organized groups of armed civilians,
known as the Janjaweed. Like their victims, the Janjaweed are
Muslim, but they have been accused of brutal attacks, including
destroying villages, conducting mass rapes and slaughtering men,
women and children.
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An ethnic
conflict |
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Human rights groups and refugees have accused the militia of
"ethnic cleansing" -- that is forcing people of one
religion or ethnicity to flee an area -- and genocide -- the systematic
and planned killing of an entire national, racial, political or
ethnic group.
International leaders and aid agencies have accused the Sudanese
government, led by President Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, of supporting
Janjaweed.
"The government of Sudan is responsible for 'ethnic cleansing'
and crimes against humanity in Darfur, one of the world's poorest
and most inaccessible regions," a Human Rights Watch report
said.
Sudan's government denies the charges and has promised to disarm
its militias, though reports from aid groups in the region say
widespread attacks continue.
 The
conflict in Darfur dates back to early 2003 when black Africans
there rebelled against the country's Arab Muslim leadership, demanding
a power-sharing government and an end to the economic disparity.
The Sudanese government sent troops to quell the rebellion and
reportedly organized and supplied the Janjaweed militia to combat
the rebels.
The violence in the mostly arid desert region has driven hundreds
of thousands of Darfur villagers from their homes. Most are in
refugee camps in Darfur while some 200,000 have fled to crowded
refugee camps in the neighboring country Chad.
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The humanitarian
crisis |
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The U.S. Agency for International Development has characterized
the crisis in Darfur as the "worst humanitarian crisis in
the world today." It estimates that at least 300,000 Sudanese
refugees could die of starvation, disease or ethnic cleansing
if aid does not arrive soon.
So far, few aid agencies have been able to penetrate the region
because of continuing violence.
The few groups who are there have sent back alarming reports
of impending starvation and mass death, sparking other human rights
and humanitarian agencies to speed up plans to deliver aid such
as food, clothing and clean water.
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U.S. involvement |
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U.S. officials say they have identified the leaders of the Janjaweed
militia and have threatened to impose targeted sanctions, or economic
punishments, on Sudan if the government fails to intervene in
the crisis, according to the State Department.
 Secretary
of State Colin Powell visited Khartoum on June 29, 2004 to press
the government to improve access to the region and disarm the
Janjaweed militia. He then traveled to Darfur to see the situation
first-hand.
So far U.S. officials have been careful not to follow the lead
of aid groups and declare the crisis genocide. Under U.N. law,
member countries, including the United States, are required to
intervene when genocide occurs.
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Is it 'genocide'? |
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But, whether or not the Sudan crisis falls under the definition
of genocide, is up for debate, according to Andrew Natsios, the
administrator of USAID.
"What [genocide] means or does not mean is something that
experts have to review," Natsios said in a NewsHour interview.
"And in fact, there is a review going on right now of whether
or not, from the U.S. government's perspective, this is taking
place or not."
 Jennifer
Leaning, a professor at Harvard University and a board member
of Physicians for Human Rights, contends the "targeted, systematic,
mass killing of an identifiable group" is an "unfolding
genocide."
"Everything we can see in terms of destruction of life and
livelihood and claims to the land and capacity to stay there,
and attempts to drive them [non-Arab Darfurians] thoroughly from
the region, would suggest that we are looking at a genocide in
action," said Leaning.
The United Nations is likely to take up the issue of what to do
in Darfur in the next few weeks.
--
Kristina Nwazota, Online NewsHour
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