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10 Facts About the Darfur Genocide

Darfur Genocide
The Darfur Genocide is one of the worst human rights abuses of modern time. Over 90 diverse tribes and sub-clans populate the region of Darfur which is located in western Sudan. With a pre-conflict population of 6 million people, tensions within the region leading to the Darfur Genocide were produced by multiple interconnected factors including ethnic conflict, economic instability and political opportunism.

The level of violence and destruction at the height of the Darfur genocide was staggering. In 2005, the Coalition for International Justice interviewed 1,136 Darfur refugees located in 19 camps in neighboring Chad. A staggering 61 percent of the respondents noted that they had witnessed the killing of one of their family members.

 

Top 10 Darfur Genocide Facts:

 

  1. In 1989, then-General Omar al-Bashir seized control of Sudan through a military coup. The country was in the middle of a 21-year civil war between the North and South regions when the leader came to power and tensions continued to build. Conflicts began to increase within the ethnically diverse Darfur and weapons started flowing into the area due to a struggle for political control.
  2. The conflict escalated in 2003 when two non-Arab rebel groups within Darfur, the Sudan Liberian Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, accused the government of neglecting the region and took up arms against it. The Sudanese government, led by al-Bashir, quickly responded with a counter-insurgency campaign against the rebels and began backing a brutal Arab militia known as the Janjaweed. Civilians within the country were the ones to ultimately pay the price for the escalating violence and began receiving a barrage of attacks from the government, pro-government troops and rebel groups.
  3. The dispute is generally racial and not religious in nature. Muslim Arab Sudanese (the Janjaweed militia group) systematically targeted, displaced, and murdered Muslim black Sudanese individuals within the Darfur region. The victims are generally from non-Arab tribal groups.
  4. According to the United Human Rights Council, over 400 villages were completely destroyed through the conflict, forcing mass amounts of civilians to be displaced from their homes. The Janjaweed would set out to destroy the houses and buildings within the community, shooting the men and gang-raping the women and children. Families would be separated and killed. Those who escaped the brutal onslaught would then be faced with an arduous journey to find refuge.
  5. Many citizens fled the violence and relocated to refugee camps within the area and neighboring Chad. According to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, approximately two million individuals are still displaced due to the violence, with the majority having left their homes between 2003 and 2005 — the height of the conflict.
  6. Malnutrition, starvation and disease were serious concerns. Residents have been able to receive limited humanitarian assistance during the conflict due to the Sudanese government hindering aid efforts within the region and violence against humanitarian programs already in place. According to UNICEF, attacks on humanitarian vehicles, convoys, and compounds are common, impacting the availability of vital aid services. Approximately 25 to 30 international relief organizations have left the area due to security concerns or have been expelled by the government, as reported by The Washington Post.
  7. In June 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched investigations into the human rights violations occurring in Darfur. According to the United Human Rights Council, the government refused to cooperate with the investigations and denied any connection with the Janjaweed militia group.
  8. On March 4, 2009, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir became the first-ever sitting president of a country to be indicted by the ICC for directing a campaign of mass killing, and rape against civilians in Darfur. His accusations according to the BBC include crimes of humanity including murder, extermination, rape and torture, as well as war crimes including attacks on civilians in Darfur, and pillaging towns and villages.
  9. The United Nations estimates that as many as 300,000 individuals have been killed since the start of the Darfur conflict in 2003. The majority of these casualties are from civilian men, women and children who lived within communities throughout the area.
  10. While the conflict has eased, it is by no means over. According to the Thomas Reuters Foundation, levels of violence have increased since the start of 2013. Approximately 400,000 individuals were displaced from their homes during the first half of 2014 alone as the Darfur crisis persists.

– Lauren Lewis

Sources: BBC, United Human Rights Council, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Darfur Australia Network, UNICEF, The Washington Post, Sudan Research, Analysis, Advocacy
Photo: Haiku Deck

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Increase US Aid to Darfur

us_aid_to_darfur
While Darfur has been at the head of aid policy for a long time, aid may be more important to the region than it has been historically.

In 2003, war in Darfur erupted, partially due to the lack of resources and the diversity of groups living in the area.

Poverty and diversity working together to create conflict is not unique to Sudan, but rather is something that I have seen as well in Kenya. Africa was split into countries, not by groups who wanted to live together, but by European countries seeking land and resources. Now, the people of those countries, including Kenya, are impoverished and left with few resources.

It is easy for groups who did not ever mean to live together to fight over the remaining resources. In Kenya, the conflict is often in the form of cattle raids. In Darfur, there was a split between Arabs and non-Arabs that led to a war against the non-Arab population in Darfur, leaving thousands dead and many more as refugees.

The United States has been providing assistance to Sudan since before this conflict, starting in about the 1980s, but US aid to Darfur did not begin until much later. When the conflict began, USAID became a leader in the effort to stabilize Darfur.

USAID had made progress in transforming the Government of Southern Sudan into a stable government (although civil war has broken out once again). In addition, the organization has provided a million people with access to clean water, as well as increasing the number of children in school.

In May, USAID provided Sudan with emergency food assistance of 47,500 metric tons of grain.

This assistance is crucial at this point in time. Violence in Darfur is increasing and Sudanese people are being recruited into ISIS. Recently, a groups of Sudanese students fled to Syria in order to join the organization.

Areas undergoing political transition and violence are easy places for terrorist groups like ISIS to target as recruitment grounds and safe havens. Darfur is possibly more at-risk for this because of its conflict that began, in part, from Arabs in the region feeling discriminated against.

If Muslims in Darfur continue to feel as if there is no future in their country, because of conflict and poverty, and continue to feel discriminated against, even the United Nations is afraid that Darfur could be a “breeding ground” for extremist groups like ISIS.

Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, however, would like for the African Union and United Nation’s troops to pull out of Darfur. Yet, this is not the time.

In light of the conflict, and rise of ISIS, Darfur can use all of the aid that it can get. The United States should continue to be a role model in helping Darfur by increasing aid to the region. With increased aid, hopefully other leaders in world aid will follow suit and increase aid to the region.

The increased emergency food aid was a good first step, but perhaps increased structural aid should come next.

– Clare Holtzman

Sources: Aid Data, All Africa, WN, Brookings, National Bureau of Economic Research, Open Democracy, Poverties, Reuters, Slate, Time, Thomas Reuters Foundation, USAID
Photo: End Genocide

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3 Outstanding Instances of Aid by AmeriCares

Every non-profit has an honorable start to their missions, but Robert C. Macauley, founder of AmeriCares, has a particular focus. On April 4, 1975, a United States jet carrying 243 Vietnamese orphans crashed in the jungle outside of Tan Son Nhut. The U.S. was unable to reach them within 10 days, and when Macauley heard this news, he did what any good-hearted American would dream of doing. He chartered a plane and brought them to the U.S. within 48 hours.

Macauley was a paper broker in Connecticut at the time, he and his wife took out a mortgage on their house to pay for the $10,000 down payment for the Boeing 747. His dislike of bureaucratic red tape cost him his home, but gave him a calling.

Macauley’s calling gave rise to one of the largest non-profits in the world, AmeriCares. Currently, the organization works in over 90 countries and has supplied over $10 billion in aid, both foreign and domestic. Here are just three examples of their impact:

1. Relief Aid in Poland – 1981

Before AmeriCares, official conception, Robert Macauley had donated his time and money to a number of causes, but his action in Vietnam brought good media. News spread quickly of Macauley’s actions and in 1981, Pope John Paul II asked for his assistance. At the time, Poland was under martial law and in desperate need of medical supplies. By 1982, Macauley had gently wrestled $1.5 million in medical supplies from over a dozen companies. March of that year, he was able to airlift the supplies to Poland. This was the first official act of AmeriCares and an impressive one at that.

2. The Darfur/Sudan Conflict – 2011

In 2004, AmeriCares began a long-term relief effort in Sudan by delivering medical aid in order to support health services for the survivors on the Sudan conflict. With South Sudan’s independence in 2011 came a rush of refugees and native South Sudanese returning to their homes. Most were in need of shelter and medical assistance.

AmeriCares began supporting the efforts of Relief International in their health outposts and camps. In Renk, funds were used to rehabilitate three health clinics and installations of emergency medical modules. This helped with treatment of diarrheal diseases, medical waste management, sanitation and health education. The health clinics also saw installations of exam tables and benches in waiting rooms. These clinics served 14,000 survivors at Renk and another 13,000 in the Gendrassa camp. AmeriCares replenished low stocks of first aid supplies in Gendrassa.

3. Hurricane Sandy Relief – 2012

The most recent natural disaster seen in the United States was Hurricane Sandy in October of 2012. More than 80,000 residences were damaged and 8.5 million people were left without shelter or power. AmeriCares has provided over $6 million in aid that has benefited more than 465,000 people. Skilled in crisis relief, AmeriCares has supplied medicine, insulin and vaccines, enough bottled water for $75,000 people, diapers for 17,000 and much more for those in need. $2.5 million went to fund programs that provide displaced citizens with emergency warmth, disaster clean up and mental health counseling in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and New Jersey.

Currently, AmeriCares is looking for grant proposals from groups who are starting projects to help with the health needs of Sandy survivors. On July 14, New Jersey was awarded $200,000 in grants to help the elderly, disabled and low-income residents recover.

– Jordan Bradley

Sources: AmeriCares, The NY Times, Darien News, Queens Chronicle
Photo: Forbes