The region of Darfur in Western Darfur is currently engaged in civil war bewteen the Sudanese goernment and non-Arab rebels and genocide of non-Arabs. Similiar to the Rwandan genocide, although not as bloody and rapid, the Sudan Genocide is not receiving the world response it should due to a humanitarian crisis.
Sudanese land is divided by tribes and the Darfur/Western Sudan region is inhabited by the Non-Arab Fur and Masalit tribes and the Arab Zaghawa and Baggare tribes. Following a rough dictatorship, the Arab Sadiq Al-Mahdi rose to power and began to favor and reward Arabs over non-Arabs. Such favoritism in the government sparked a second civil war in the nation. In the 1990s, the Arab Omar Al Bashir became president, and he possessed the same Arab favoritism of his predecessor. To combat the favoritism, the non-Arab civilians created the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the SUdan Liberation Movement (SLM). The main goal of these two groups was to achieve equality for non-Arabs. THe governmetn fought these rebel groups using the mercenary Janjaweed.
THe Jajaweed began to battle the JEM and SLM rebels in February 2003, and the rebels were suppressed. Over time, the UN discovered that the Janjaweed was executing a ethnic genocide supported by the government against non-Arabs and oppostion. The genocide caused over 100000 refugees to flee to Chad, and the Janjaweed did not cease its goal of genocide. Unlike Rwanda, during whihc no international nation declared a "genocide", the U.S> Seante and House declared genocide in Sudan on July 23, 2004. Unfortunately, the US war in Iraq prevented US military assistance. Furthermore, agian unlike Rwanda in which peacekeeping troops were reduced, the UN and African Union increased the number of peace-keeping troops.
The genocide gontinued to ravage the Sudan as the Janjaweed moved and attacked the refugees. In response, the UN identified fifty-one leaders of the genocide and hoped to convict them to end the genocide. The effort failed, and the Janjaweed continued its destruciton. In February 2006, the UN chose to send 12000-20000 troops into to the Sudan and once again unlike Rwanda in which the troops had little freedom to fight, these troops had the freedom to engage the Janjaweed to protect targeted peoplels.
The genocide has taken a horrible toll on the Sudan. 1.8 million have left their homes, 200000 have fled to Chad, hundreds of thousands have been murdered and many more will die due to starvation and disease. The world has paid more attention to the genocide than it had in Rwanda, but little is being done. THe leading advocate for intervention is the US, which is unable to send troops. People continue to suffer in the crowded and under-supplied refugee camps and many more roam the desert to avoid the Janjaweed.
I chose to do my web assignment on Dom Zanaboni's paper on the genocide in the Sudan because I wrote my paper on the Genocide in Rwanda and felt that it would be interesting to see any connections and similarities and how the world responded. I learned while doing this summary that the world has learned from the mistakes in Rwanda, but not enough is being done. The events have been declared a genocide, there are increasing amounts of troops, the troops have more freedom to protect the innocent, and the United States is pushing for intervention, but the conflict continues. I am glad that the Sudan genocide is not nearly as horrible or as large as the one in Rwanda, and I am glad that more is being done to stop it, but I agree that it seems like little is being done. Prior to reading this research paper, I had no knowledge of the genocide in Sudan, especially considering that it is continuing to this day. I think that it extremly important that more people realize the situation and current state in Sudan so that more people can push and work to stop it. After what I learned from the Rwandan genocide, I hope that the world does not see anotehr Rwanda and that the killing and suffering in the Sudan soon comes to an end.
