Darfur
Darfur, yet another dark, seemingly insoluble blot on the souls of mankind.The government of Sudan has been aware for years that the black Muslim farmers of the Darfur area have been the targets of deadly raids by Arab herders. These two disparate elements of the area have traditionally been forced by circumstances to co-operate with one another; one group in stable village environments absorbed in farming, the other in nomadic herd grazing. There was conflict from time to time, but also a reluctant spirit of codependence on the land.
A change in government has swung matters entirely over into the hands of the herders, and tribal militias, and they are no longer content to share the land as before. The Janjaweed militia, discreetly assisted by the Sudanese government swoop down on villages murdering, raping, driving thousands upon thousands of Sudanese farmers from their land. The result has been a virtual cleansing of the area. And huge, teeming refugee camps on the verge of starvation.
The Western world has wrung its virtual hands in despair, calling upon the government of Sudan, through the auspices of the United Nations, time and again to stop the carnage. Which of course they deny having inspired to begin with, nor to having assisted in its sweeping outrage. The African Union has grudgingly sent in peacekeeping forces in an apparent effort to ensure that the murders and rapes will be halted, but to no avail. For not only do they continue, but raids are now taking place in Chad, which has been harbouring many of the Sudanese refugees.
Humanitarian groups and the Western press iare urging their governments to stop the carnage, reminding any who will listen that the United Nations was to have been the vehicle to address all such problems, but obviously has failed in this, as in previous situations. Finally the United Nations is appealing to the U.S. and the European Union for equipment for a mobile UN force. NATO forces are seen as an alternative.
So what's this? The African Union leaders, despite their abject failure to make any headway in holding their Sudanese member in contempt of human rights, of persuading Sudan by any and all means to cease and desist, resents and resists the move to send in an effective peacemaking force.
Maliciously backward, heedless of human life, how can such solidarity in the face of a peoples' mass destruction be countenanced? For shame.
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, March 12, 2006
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