Sudan massacre

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maude

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Jan 6, 2003
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Ironically, just months after the anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, a similar catastrophe is taking place in Sudan.

So far at least 10,000 people have been slaughtered and millions
have fled their homes as the government supported Arab Janjaweed militia rapes, murders and destroys villages in an effort to exterminate the black African population of Sudan. The surrounding areas that have taken in the refugees are also in great trouble as food and water are too sparse to accomodate the influx of Sudanese refugees.

We must not sit back and allow such a catastrophe to continue in silence. Each of us has a responsibility to voice our condemnation of such horrific crimes against humanity and make others aware of this situation.

You can help in a number of ways. There are several organizations making efforts to bring needed food, water, and medicine to the suffering areas. Look here for a listing of agencies that you can make monetary contributions to.

If you can't afford to make a donation, you can contribute your time by writing letters to elected representatives (congressmen, president, etc.) as well as to your local newspaper or t.v. station asking for more coverage of the crisis. Check out the human rights watch website here for more suggestions and addresses.

Please do something. We cannot allow history to repeat itself.
 
Thank you, maude, for speaking up about the unfolding human tragedy in the Darfur region of Sudan.:(

It is VERY ironic that in the year of the 10th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, the world is ALLOWING it to happen again in Darfur!

:ohmy:

Thank you for the links to organizations that can HELP TO END THIS TRAGEDY. I hope that people in this forum will check out those links to learn more and to contribute to those organizations. :up:

Let us all work to help bring a brighter day to the People of Darfur! :angel: :hug:
 
Yes I remember than you Maude.. So often General Romeo Dallaire words ring in my head

"rwanda was a warning to all of us of what lies in store if we continue to ignore human rights, human security and abject poverety.. tens of millions of children desrve and must have nothing less then a chance at life as a human being and not as someones slave , vassal , chattel or expendable pawn. In the 21st century we can not afford to tolerate a single failed state. The internatinal community of which the UN is only a symbol failed to move past the point of national self interest.. still Rwanda is the story of the failure of humanity and it can easily happen again, it is again happening in many parts of Africa .."

here Canadians can find a letter to send to Minister Bill Graham
http://www.activist.ca/view.php?id=0-11682
 
What amazes me is that we have people who talk about how bad things are for certain parts of the world, but then say ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about TRUE HUMANITARIAN CRISES like what is happening in the Sudan!:ohmy:

Unfortunately, for many historical/political/economic reasons, almost the whole of sub-Saharan Africa has been in a state of underdevelopment for hundreds of years (at least since the beginning of the slave trade).:(

In the last 40 years or so since most African nations have emerged from colonization, they have been SYSTEMATICALLY kept back by unfair trade restrictions, unjust debt burdens and a whole lot more machiavellian reasons than I will go into here.:tsk:

And while the situation is shaky and maybe even unfair to certain people in other parts of the world, the situation for the poorest/most politically underrepresented/most economically desparate/most socially displaced people in the world - in countries like Sudan, Malawi, Congo, Ivory Coast, etc is SO DISPROPORTIATELY WORSE than anywhere else in the world but we REMAIN LARGELY SILENT ON AFRICA'S PLIGHT! :eyebrow:

WHY? :scratch:
 
I agree Jamila the selective blindness shown by many is quite staggering. What is needed is no fly zones that are enforced with air power so the Sudanese Army cannot bomb or use their Attack Choppers to soften up the refugees before the Janjaweed move in. A force of some type needs to be on the ground however the ghosts of Somalia will complicate the possibility of a US force and it isn't in the interest of any European powers. This has to go through the UN however the sheer number of votes the Arabs can buy off makes it a long shot, not to mention the Oil Interests held by Chinese, French and Pakistani groups. Sanctions will not do much good here because the damage is being done as we speak. We need to protect the refugees and prevent any outbreak of disease now that the rains are coming in, not enough has been done and things will most certainly get worse before they get any better even if we act right now.
 
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Why do people b#tch and complain SO MUCH about world issues that fade in urgency when compared to the MILLIONS OF AFRICANS who die EVERY YEAR from totally preventable causes like AIDS, TB, malaria, diarrhea (from lack of CLEAN WATER), dysentery, hunger and a host of other reasons that would be COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE in parts of the world where European-descended people live!:angry:

I thinki that a lot of these people NO REAL CONCERN FOR WORLD PEACE and SOCIAL JUSTICE. They just have a political viewpoint to spread and will use ANY halftruth that they can to try to substantiate their slanted viewpoints to try to make their point.

If we have TRUE CONCERN for the downtrodden, the most desparate, the people who LIVE THE MOST IN TERRORISM then we would be supporting the international clamor to stop the genocide in Sudan and openly support the Global AIDS and anti-poverty movement to STOP THE REAL TERRORISM IN THE WORLD -
the everyday silent killers in Africa called AIDS, underdevelopment and extreme poverty. :yes:

THE GOAL IS SOUL.....:up: :angel: :hug:
 
Jamila said:
Why do people b#tch and complain SO MUCH about world issues that fade in urgency when compared to the MILLIONS OF AFRICANS who die EVERY YEAR from totally preventable causes like AIDS, TB, malaria, diarrhea (from lack of CLEAN WATER), dysentery, hunger and a host of other reasons that would be COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE in parts of the world where European-descended people live!:angry:

Because there is little to no money to be made by helping out the refugees. This is the plain old truth. Also, if it's not politically advantageous, we are not going in.

There is a huge hypocrisy at hand when we cry about tyrannical leaders who need to be disposed of, because it's not tyranny that we are liberating people from, it's tyranny + potential to make money + advantageous military/political strategy, etc. I wish people would be more honest here.

Darfur is a tragedy, and short of us providing as much humanitarian relief as possible at the moment, I don't see the West really getting involved. It's sad and it's heartbreaking, but this is the way of our (capitalistic) world.
 
verte76 said:
This is dreadful. This needs to be stopped!

Amen to that! That's the exact reason I made this entry on my LiveJournal - there is far too little awareness of this disaster. As others have stated, governments will only step in when there is an economic advantage or if their population are getting vocal and it would be political suicide to not do anything.

We need to raise awareness and do all we can, and do that now.
 
Axver said:
....or if their population are getting vocal and it would be political suicide to not do anything.[/i].

Absolutely! That's why we need to all pipe up and make a big fuss about this. This is a vitally important issue and we need to make our leaders aware that we want something done about it.

Axver, your post on Livejournal is great. Thanks for the link. I hope everyone will read it.

Thanks all for your comments.
 
Something needs to be done to stop the conflict in Sudan. It is true that the global community responds to crises that effect them first and second, to crises that don't effect them at all or as much, if at all. Outside military force is probably needed to resolve the issue in Sudan, but considering how difficult it is to get countries to use military force, EVEN when their own interest is threatened, it will far more difficult to get countries to send sufficient military resources to stabilize the situation in this case.
 
Sting2,

I think you are probably right. One of the big reasons Rwanda went on for so long was due to the lack of military support.

Here are some interesting words from General Dallaire, former commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda. This is via francewatcher.org found here

"And so, ladies and gentlemen, the question does remain, is: In fact, if you're not in somebody's gironde, in somebody's radar scope, if you don't have a historic reference, as possibly the British in Sierra Leone or the French Cote d'Ivoire, and if it's not in your national interests to spill blood in the world, because of the place where such traumas are happening, have nothing to offer back to you, then is it fair to take the decision not to intervene?

In fact, is it fair to say that, "Listen, this is not our fight; humans are slaughtering each other; let them do that; once they're ended, then we'll pick up some of the pieces, we'll throw some cash at it, Pontius Pilate ourselves, out of the moral responsibility toward humanity"?

Ladies and gentlemen, all humans are human."
 
Well, we didn't do anything back then when it concerned Rwanda, and we sure aren't going to do much now when we're all too busy blowing up children in places where WMDs are supposedly hidden. But enough on that, God knows we've not only beaten that particular donkey to death, he's been cremated and his ashes have been sprinkled over the oil wells.

Rwanda was a tragedy then, when we were all more concerned with places like Kosovo, and it is now, when we're all writing reports on whether or not Iraq had WMDs - my point is we didn't know how to spend money wisely then, and we still don't know hot to spend money wisely now.

At the end of the day we've lost our presidents and prime-ministers to apathy, and thats only because we've let them.


Ant.
 
Thanks, SherryDarling, for the link.

Congress' stance IS a first step to attending to this humanitarian crisis.

All we can do is to see if Congress will WALK THEIR TALK and find some way to sanction the government of Sudan.

Given the U.S.'s past performance on dealing with corrupt governments, I wish I could say that I'm optimistic that anything more than a declaration will come out of Congress.

But I'm always willing to be proven wrong on this one.:yes:
 
Anthony said:
Well, we didn't do anything back then when it concerned Rwanda, and we sure aren't going to do much now when we're all too busy blowing up children in places where WMDs are supposedly hidden. But enough on that, God knows we've not only beaten that particular donkey to death, he's been cremated and his ashes have been sprinkled over the oil wells.

Rwanda was a tragedy then, when we were all more concerned with places like Kosovo, and it is now, when we're all writing reports on whether or not Iraq had WMDs - my point is we didn't know how to spend money wisely then, and we still don't know hot to spend money wisely now.

At the end of the day we've lost our presidents and prime-ministers to apathy, and thats only because we've let them.


Ant.


The coalition in Iraq is NOT busy blowing up childern. The Coalition in Iraq has been extremely busy over the past 16 months improving the lives of Iraqi citizens, something that would not be happening if the anti-war crowd had had their way back in March 2003.
 
Yes, STING2, perhaps. My point however was that perhaps issues such as Africa were and still are more important for a number of issues, issues that we've all heard of before. Issues, that, especially after two reports (one English and one American) pretty much reach the conclusion that Iraq was not a palpable threat and that they did not, in fact, have WMDs, do seem more important for global security.

Ant.
 
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Anthony said:
Yes, STING2, perhaps. My point however was that perhaps issues such as Africa were and still are more important for a number of issues, issues that we've all heard of before. Issues, that, especially after two reports (one English and one American) pretty much reach the conclusion that Iraq was not a palpable threat and that they did not, in fact, have WMDs, do seem more important for global security.

Ant.

To this day, it is a fact that Saddam failed to account for 1,000 Liters of Anthrax, 500 pounds of Mustard Gas, and over 20,000 Bio/Chem capable shells. It is also a fact that Dr. Kay and his team found over 300 items in Iraq that were related or could be involved in the production of WMD and were in total violation of resolution 1441. Above all, the United Nations required Saddam to VERIFIABLY DISARM of all WMD. No one in the United Nations has ever claimed that Saddam accomplished this and his failure to have done so is a violation of the 1991 Gulf War Ceacefire agreement which authorized renewed military action if Saddam was found to be in material breech of his obligations.

Issues in Africa are important, but not more important than issues that impact the entire planet such as ENERGY and the available supply of it which impacts everyone and the global economy. If the United States and Europe are unable to protect global security in this regard, there will be no money available to help out with vital issues in Africa.
 
Sherry Darling said:
Good news, all, check it out! The US Congress has DONE THE RIGHT THING and called it genocide!

Cheryl


This is fantastic! I'm not feeling well so it's particularly pleasing to hear this!
 
maude said:
Absolutely! That's why we need to all pipe up and make a big fuss about this. This is a vitally important issue and we need to make our leaders aware that we want something done about it.

Axver, your post on Livejournal is great. Thanks for the link. I hope everyone will read it.

Ever since I made that entry, Sudan really has become my passion and I'm devoting a good deal of my spare time to it. I don't really have time right now to get involved with this thread, but the latest statistics truly are tragic - over 50,000 dead, 1.2 million homeless, and there will be no crops until October 2005. There IS going to be a major famine and diseases are running rampant. This is a catastrophe, it could be Rwanda and Ethiopia all in one ... I truly cannot believe what I am seeing every day. We must make some noise and make our elected representatives know their jobs are on the line if they sit around and don't send help as soon as possible.
 
Viva La France, proudly upholding whats right by warning against any action against the regime in Khartom in the name of Euro-Arab Unity and Big Oil Contracts. Im sure that when all the Africans are "pacified" there will be a lot of money in it for those who gave the moral support while the dirty work was going on. Watch in amazement as the UN Security Council sets up the perfect alibi by blaming the US for not crafting a piss weak but mutually agreeable resolution.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3875277.stm
 
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A_Wanderer, that article from the BBC was already outdated the last time you posted it three weeks ago. Here's a recent article from the BBC.

The BBC's Susannah Price at the UN says the US wants the Security Council to pass their resolution on Darfur unanimously to send the strongest possible signal to Khartoum that the violence must stop.

As the draft text currently stands, the resolution threatens unspecified sanctions against Sudan's government if it fails to carry out its promise to disarm the Janjaweed militia.

But seven council members - Pakistan, China, Russia, Algeria, Angola, the Philippines and Brazil - want the reference to sanctions to be removed because they believe Khartoum needs more time to act.

Diplomats said they believe the US may be prepared to do so. The US ambassador would not confirm or deny this but stated that it would have to be clear to the government of Sudan that non-compliance meant sanctions.

Nevertheless, the silence from European governments is deafening and shocking. Nobody seems to be prepared to send troops, even though the good news is that more money has been made available.
 
Thank you, DrTeeth! :applaud:

While most issues in this world are interconnected (economically/politically/socially), I really think that it is disrespectful and unfair to the EXTREME SERIOUSNESS of the humanitarian disaster in Darfur to bring in other people's agendas.:ohmy:

A_Wanderer, nothing personal, but your obsession with your one issue ("the Arabs") DO NOT BELONG IN THIS THREAD!

PLEASE RESPECT OUR SINCERE CONCERN FOR THE PEOPLE OF DARFUR AND KEEP OTHER ISSUES OUT OF THIS THREAD. :up: :yes:

I'm sure the others posting here feel the same. :hug:
 
it is most certainly not my one issue, the influence of Arab governments in the Middle East and the relationships that Europe and the US try to maintain to them by buying their loyalty and reciprocating that with UN voting (France in Particular) is crutial to the way that this plays out.

Ask yourself this.

Which government supports the Janjaweed?

Which governments support the government that supports the Janjaweed?

It all leads back up to the same place and I guarantee you that petrodollars will clog up any attempt for serious UN actions and a lot of people will die, do not skirt the issues here in the name of political correctness because the fact is that Arabs are slaughtering Blacks with direct millitary support from the Sudanese government and they in turn recieve support from regimes in the region as well as countries such as France, China and Pakistan who have will make a good deal of money from Sudanese oil. Until these problems are resolved it wont matter how much aid we send because people will keep dying in great numbers.
 
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With the U.N. resolution which passed yesterday (and was weakened by pressure from the U.S.) for possible sanctions against the Sudanese government if they do not stop the inhumane and murderous actions of the Janjaweed militias within the next 30 days, I wanted to revive this thread. :wink:

I don't want us to forget about the People of Darfur....:hug:
 
Jamila you have it all backwards, the US was the one that wanted to put the word sanctions in there but it had to weaken it on the demands by other nations, There is no direct threat of sanctions within that resolution because the US had to weaken it just to get it through the security council and unfortunately nations that have an interest in keeping the oil money and also have a veto will do their best to obfuscate any move towards a peacekeeping operation. Countries that opposed that were China and Pakistan (both of which have significant oil interests when the Africans are -in the words of the French FM- pacified internally.

I repeat the oil interests of these nations coupled with the Arab regimes in the region buying off votes in the name of pan-Arabism is the reason that this resolution wont stick and when push comes to shove there may not be a UN force in the country. This isn't about religion or Islamophobia, it is black Muslims being slaughtered by Arab militias with the support of an Arab government which recieves international support from Arab regimes, the Pakistanis, the Chinese and French.

Have I mentioned how much I dont like the way the UN handles genocides yet?
 
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A-wanderer, that's NOT what CNN and NPR (National Public Radio)reported. So I guess our media had it backwards.

But it's nice to know that there are people sitting half a world away who know more about the USA than we do here.

A_Wanderer, I repeat - YOU WILL TWIST ANY PIECE OF INFO AROUND TO CONSTANTLY BLAME EVRY PROBLEM IN THE WORLD ON THE GROUPS AND THE PEOPLE YOU DON'T LIKE.

GET OFF IT - the vast majority of people posting here are only concerned right now on the humanitarian aspect of this crisis, not on fronting their political point of view!

Keep the political posts for another thread ( you do enough of them!)
 
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