Andrew Mueth: Web Assignment 6:
Western Sudan, or Darfur, has been in a state of civil war off and on since the 1970s. The most recent civil war has turned into a human rights crisis.
Four tribes inhabit Darfur: two Arab tribes, and two non-Arab tribes, all four being Muslim. Arabs have been in power since 1958, and the non-Arabs have felt increasingly left behind by the Arab leaders who treat non-Arabs unfairlty.
The current civil war began in the 90s, but for the first time the non-Arabs organized their efforts. In the late 1990s, non-Arabs formed the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM). In response to these groups, the Darfur government sent its mercenaries to crush the rebels.
The mercenaries did not stop at defeating an anti-government militant movement, however. Probably under government orders, they destroyed and continue to destroy villages, and murder innocent non-Arabs.
Few have stepped in to stop the genocide. The European Union does not feel justified involving itself in the North African conflict, and the United Nations investigated and found the case to be one of genocided indeed, but failed to take action immediately, and is slowly making its way to help the refugees in the country. The US Congress declared the situation genocide, but Bush has not entered anything more than diplomatic negotiations because of the current war in Iraq.
As the violence has begun to slow, hundreds of thousands have been killed, and over 1.8 million displaced from their homes. Yet no organization has made serious efforts to stop the killing or ease the pains of the victims of this genocide.
To Domenic Zanaboni's Research Paper