Sudan, just another case of Genocide
By Gia Mayorga
The most horrific images to ever fall
before my fourteen-year-old eyes were from Rwanda’s civil war in the early
90’s. The sight of hundreds of Tutsis dead, and floating in a river, their
bodies already possessed with rigor mortis, ran through my head frequently for
more than a week after viewing the terrifying footage.
I saw other stuff from Rwanda, Hutus
brutally massacring children, women, and men with machetes – it all
depresses me even to this day. The Hutus were systematically killing the Tutsi
people, in order to try to rid Rwanda of the once ruling aristocracy.
I learned how, in fear of another
Somalia, our country did nothing to help. President Clinton’s cabinet
addressed the situation as if it was minor rivalry of two African tribes, never
calling it what it was, denying it at conferences, admitting that it was
Genocide meant that they’d have to do something about it.
Maybe that’s why Clinton waited
until the conflict was resolved to call it Genocide. He apologized for not
acting, and he went on a visit to Rwanda with Hilary, but all the president did
was make an apology speech, he never even left the airport. We vowed to never
allow Genocide to happen again.
Voila:
Sudan. Genocide is taking place even as I type, another instance of ethnic
cleansing, once again the world is just standing by, and doing little to nothing
to act. Of course the UN is doing something, just like they did with Rwanda, but
nothing that has actually stopped the killings.
The conflict all started when a rebel
group started attacking “government targets” because they felt that
their impoverished region was being neglected by Khartoum, the rebels accused
the Sudanese government of unfairly favoring the Arabs, and of oppressing the
black Africans.
The two rebel groups
that are addressing this problem and having an uprising are the Sudan People
Liberation Army (SPLA), and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
A huge problem in Sudan is the
Janjaweed. Though the Sudanese government has admitted to using militias for
self-defense after attacks from the rebels, it denies being linked to the
Janjaweed, which is a brutal group set on cleansing Sudan of black Africans.
Citizens of Darfur say that the Janjaweed stroll into town after air raids, on
camels, and horses. Members of the Janjaweed are un-merciful they steal, they
brutally kill men, they rape, and kidnap women and hold them as sex
slaves.
The Janjaweed have destroyed
many homes, causing many people to leave their villages for refugee camps in
Darfur, but at these camps they are running out of medicine, food, and water.
When people go in search of food, and other necessities they are raped, and
killed by the Janjaweed who stay near patrolling the area around the camps. Many
children have died from malnutrition, and thousands of Sudanese people are
starving to death at these camps. Sudanese government officials stated that
they have no power over the Janjaweed. After pressure from other countries, the
Sudanese government swore to overthrow the Janjaweed, and put an end to the
chaos caused by them, but they have yet to complete the
task.
My resources tell me that the UN
has threatened to impose sanctions on the Sudanese oil sector, until they reduce
the violence, and mayhem-taking place. But of course something prevented this
from happening.
China along with
Russia, and a few other countries have made it perfectly clear that they stand
firmly against those plans and, opposed of the idea of helping quit the
fighting. They think that Sudan should figure out how to resolve their own
problems. Maybe this is because both China and Russia are selling weapons to
Sudan.
Recently the Sudan and the
rebel groups signed a contract agreeing to sign a peace treaty by the end of the
year, at an emergency UN meeting, (it was so urgent that it was held outside of
the UN’s headquarters in New York, something that has not been done in
fourteen years). But this isn’t the first ceasefire that the rebels and
the Sudanese government have signed, who knows whether or not this treaty one
will have any impact in Darfur where the killing is taking place.
The conflict in Sudan is a horrific
example of Genocide, that I don’t see ending soon. I would say that the
United Nations should go in on a Peace Keeping mission, but when they did that
in Rwanda, and 30 of their soldiers ended up lending the Hutus their weapons,
and they ended getting shot by those Hutus. I don’t think that Sudan needs
the UN’s soldiers, I think they need help from America. Former Secretary
of State Colin Powell has already referred to what’s happening in Sudan as
Genocide, and after all admitting there is a problem is the first step. Last
time this happened President Clinton did nothing, and we ended up doing nothing
to stop one of the worst instances of Genocide ever; now one equally brutal is
taking place, and we aren’t acting, when we should be.
I guess it’s just another case
of Genocide.
Posted: Wed - December
1, 2004 at 03:43 PM