Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Reading list:
Sudan: largest nation in Africa, located in the North-West. Khartoum: Government in Sudan; located in the middle-to-northwest of the country Darfour: region in Western Sudan, bordering Chad and the Central African Republic Universally recognized date for the beginning of the current crisis: Feb. 2003, when an insurgency group made up of 3 main ethnic (African) tribes in Darfur formed into the SLA: the Sudanese Liberation Army and issued a manifesto. Best description of the origins of the current crisis: "The current ethnic war is the culmination of two decades of misfuided policies by successive central governments." Historical context: The actors Africans: generally farmers - the largest tribes in the Darfur region are the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit. It is these groups who have also made up a predominant majority of the rebel SLA. Khartoum: seen to be an Arab elite minority, which seized power in the late 80s, and then subsequently sought to marginalize the non-Arab population by removing Africans from senior governmental posts. Also had a role in weakening traditional tribal adminstrative systems that had for generations managed to keep inter-tribal conflicts (over land and other resources) sporadic and with low levels of violence. Today GENEINA, Sudan, June 29 -- At first light on Sunday, three young women walked into a scrubby field just outside their refugee camp in West Darfur. They had gone out to collect straw for their family's donkeys. They recalled thinking that the Arab militiamen who were attacking African tribes at night would still be asleep. But six men grabbed them, yelling Arabic slurs such as "zurga" and "abid," meaning "black" and "slave." Then the men raped them, beat them and left them on the ground, they said. Khartoum: Denies support of the Jajaweed, despite copious evidence to the contrary; has managed to cleverly forge alliances with those exceedingly interested in its billion-dollar oil industry (such as China, Canada, Malaysia and Sweden, along with other African nations) such that response to the genocide has been weak. Also has used the US-Iraq war as a convenient simile for its situation: Sudanese officials like Salah Gosh have developed two methods for deflecting American criticism. First, they meet every charge with a reference to the quagmire in Iraq. In Khartoum, when I asked Gosh about the Sudanese attacks on civilians, he told me that armies are made up of individuals. "In Abu Ghraib, there are violations by the U.S. Army," he said. "But the violations are not from the whole Army. The violations are from individuals. You cannot generalize." When I asked why Sudan had not complied with American demands that it disarm the janjaweed, he said, "The United States is facing those terrorist people in Iraq. Is it possible for the United States to disarm those criminals? Is it possible for the United States, with all of its equipment--it is a superpower--to disarm these people in one month, two years? Danforth stands there in the United States and says, 'The government of Sudan has just a few days to control the janjaweed and to stop those attacks.' If it's so easy, why don't you do it in Iraq?" Bravo, Bush. As your blind, misguided and fanatical party faithful are worshipping your sorry ass in a city that does not want you there this week, I don't suppose you'd want to point in this direction towards another horrible dilemma your personal crusade has wrought? Nah... Didn't think so... posted by claudine |Added at 12:35 AM| | politics, sudan
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