Mukesh Kapila, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, called Darfur the "world's greatest humanitarian crisis" in March of 2004. Since then, despite the efforts of several movements advocating humanitarian intervention, only token progress has been made in resolving this crisis. As the governments of the "civilized" world continue to quibble over semantics about whether or not what is happening can be properly called a "genocide", the disenfranchised people of Darfur continue to suffer and die.
Mr. Hari tells of the Janjaweed's systematic modus operandi for invading once-peaceful villages. The indigenous Zaghawa, Fur, and Masseleit ethnic villagers have usually had advance warning of an impending attack, and usually prepare to evacuate as many people as possible before the Janjaweed arrive. The word Janjaweed means "devils on horseback". The Janjaweed fighters are given this name because of their traditional method of launching their attacks against their non-Arab fellow countrymen by riding on the backs of horses or camels. Today, they also use modern vehicles and are sometimes aided in their assaults by Sudanese government helicopter gun ships. They then proceed to loot, torture, rape, and massacre all those who have stayed behind. Some of the villagers stay behind by choice, to fight the invaders and buy time for others to escape. Others stay behind because they are too badly injured or old and frail to flee. Those who stay behind know they will receive no mercy from the well-armed and brutally vicious Janjaweed fighters. They know that, if they're not lucky enough to be killed by gunfire from the militia's automatic weapons, they could end up spending their final moments being incinerated alive in their traditional huts. The Janjaweed have a well-deserved reputation for rampaging and overtaking entire villages and efficiently and systematically reducing these peaceful villages where children once played to nothing but smoldering ashes littered with the corpses of their non-Arab brethren.
Differences which were once settled peacefully through tribal negotiations are now routinely settled at the end of the barrel of automatic weapons. While the Sudanese government under President Bashir continues to deny its involvement in the Darfur genocide, few doubt that the Sudanese government is actively supporting and encouraging the Janjaweed militias. Except for maybe a handful of Bashir's inner circle loyalists, virtually no one close to the situation would look you in the eye and tell you that Bashir and his government are not behind these atrocities. It is clear to anyone who has eyes to see that Bashir and the Sudanese government authorities are actively participating in the Darfur genocide.
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