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Sudan & a Silent Genocide -- the case for immediate intervention.

Richard Sloane

 The failure of the west & the international community as a whole to intervene to stop the killing Sudan speaks volumes about our compassion for and willingness to assist others.

"You should be the change that you want to see in the world." -- Mohatmas Ghandi

"It's an all too familiar story. We turn on our televisions and see images of traumatized, displaced & distraught people on the other side of the world.

They usually don't have the same skin colour, dress sense or build as we do, but we can still relate, and we're still upset at what we seeing. Then come the pictures of severely malnourished children, ribs protruding, staring mournfully at us from the other side of the world. We shake our heads in dismay, and then proceed to get back to our daily lives, perhaps wondering for a fleeting moment why somebody doesn't simply do something.

At present, the latest harrowing images are coming to us from the Dafur region of Sudan and over the border in neighbouring Chad. A Relatively rich country by African standards, but a poor one by western standards

- Sudan is situated in the North-Eastern end of Africa. Since succeeding from English colonial rule in the 50s, it has primarily been governed by authoritarian military governments, generally sympathetic to Islamist aims. For the most part, independent Sudan has been embroiled in civil war, as the majority Sunni Muslim regime and affiliated militias oppress the black Africans, who generally follow indigenous animist religions, with a small amount identifying as Christians. Of late, the situation has taken a turn for the worse, with the current Islamic-dominated regime openly financing and supporting pro-Arab militias, commonly known as the Janjaweed. These militias, seeking to crush the African rebellion of February 2003, have rampaged through black villages – engaging in widespread ethnic cleansing, rape, murder, looting and pillaging.

According to the United Nations, this has served to displace over 1.2 million people – and forced up to 200,000 black Africans to flee their villages and head to makeshift refugee camps in the Dafur region, and in some cases into camps situated in neighbouring Chad. The UN estimates that as many as 30,000 to 50,000 people have already been killed by the conflict. To add insult to injury, those villagers who do manage to make it to the refugee camps alive are faced with even more seemingly insurmountable problems. Food and water are scarce, and the threat of disease – exacerbated by inadequate amounts of doctors, medical facilities and supplies, looms large.

Furthermore, the Janjaweed militias have followed, and continue to terrorize the inhabitants of the makeshift refugee camps situated inside the Sudanese border. Malnutrition is rife, and many recently widowed mothers are unable to feed their young children, and as such are forced to watch them die, powerless to do anything.

Although the situation will invariably get worse before it gets better, the news is not all bad. There are a number of quantitative things that can be done to assist the refugees of Sudan, but immediate action is of the utmost importance. Evidently there are multitudes of problems still to be addressed, but there are two that are, in my view - the most pressing. First is the continuing violence being perpetuated and carried out by the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias that it supports and equips. Not only should every nation with an interest in human rights (most importantly influential states such as America, the UK and Germany) be applying significant diplomatic pressure on the Sudanese government in order to stop the violence, and to end the government support of the rampaging militias, but there is a strong case or immediately instituting sanctions against the Sudanese government via the UN.

Furthermore, a multilateral force is should be assembled as quickly as possible. It need not be massive in number, but it should be enough to protect the refugees and aid workers under threat in the Dafur & Chad camps. Secondly, organizations such as UNICEF who are already working in the refugee camps will need to increase their staff levels in order to prevent famine and disease from setting in. This would obviously be greatly aided by increased levels of monetary donations, from both governments and private citizens concerned at the situation.

After the Rwandan genocide in which around 900,000 people died, the world vowed that nothing like it would never happen again. Whilst it is heartening to witness some of the recent developments (namely Kofi Annan & Colin Powell visiting Dafur and Chad, and the US Congress' recent condemnation of what they termed the Sudanese 'genocide'), it will come as cold comfort to those who have already lost their homes or witnessed the murders of family members – and it isn't substantial enough to put an end to the crisis. Even more reprehensible than our failure to decisively act thus far has been the reaction of the Sudanese government. Sudanese Prime Minister Omar Hassan al-Bashir has publicly responded to the mounting international pressure by labeling it an attack on the Islamic state of Sudan. His apparent disregard for the deaths of thousands of people aside, his comments make it clear that the Sudanese government isn't particularly interested in a swift end to the ethnic cleansing being carried out in it's name. Here is a situation in which the international community could intervene simply to protect desperate people in grave danger. The countries that featured prominently in the war in Iraq (America, Australia, the UK etc.) have a unique chance to make good on their proclamations that they are now interested in helping people who are oppressed by repressive, violent regimes not adverse to mass killings.

Should we, the allegedly enlightened international community – stand by as hundreds of thousands of innocent people are murdered, raped and have their homes destroyed? Are situations such as this acceptable in this day and age? I contend that they are not. There is a humanitarian catastrophe developing under our noses, and we have the power to stop it. The only question now remaining is that of whether we will have the fortitude to stop procrastinating, and act. The people of Sudan need our help. We should give it to them."

Richard Sloane  Student, Residence: Melbourne, Australia