April 27, 2004
CHEYENNE AUTUMN:
Attacked, Expelled, Ignored (NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, 4/25/04, NY Times Magazine)
The Darfur region of western Sudan is one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth, which makes it an ideal place to get away with ethnic cleansing. Since late last year, an Arab militia called the Janjaweed has killed thousands of darker-skinned non-Arabs and driven about one million from their homes. Most of the refugees are still in Sudan, many of them in squalid camps, the children dying of malnutrition and measles. An additional 110,000 refugees have crossed into Chad. Even there they are not safe: the Janjaweed regularly raid across the border.The killing here is not about religion, as it is elsewhere in Sudan. It is largely about race and ethnicity -- and the age-old tension between nomadic herdsmen and settled farmers.
As always, racism is a far more powerful impulse to kill than religion is a restraint. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 27, 2004 2:12 PM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3652521.stm
"the United Nations Human Rights Commission adopted a watered down statement on Darfur.
The United States had pushed for a much harder hitting resolution criticising Sudanese government abuses.
Unlike the original draft resolution, the text does not go into details about the targeting of civilians by the Arab militias in Sudan, or mention rape, sexual assault and forced removals of black communities in the area.
Rather than condemning Sudan, it expresses solidarity with the country in overcoming the present situation.
Critics say this is a considerable climb-down by the UN and the resolution was voted against by the US.
"We fear a terrible famine to come when tens of thousands may well perish," the US envoy Richard Williamson said. "The commission so far has failed to meet its responsibility today."
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The US, the great force for evil in the world, the UN, the great force looking out for the downtrodden.
Religion is seldom a restraint and more often a justification for murder. See every other Muslim country on earth, or, the rest of Sudan.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at April 27, 2004 11:58 PMRead an article yesterday that stated Sudan was returning scuds and WMD to Syria. I wonder if they're going back to Syria proper or to the Bekka Valley?
Posted by: genecis at April 28, 2004 10:21 AM