Crisis.

DARFUR CONFLICT: The World's Worst Current Humanitarian Crisis

Many people, including me, are clueless about one of the major crisis of the recent past. The conflict has been described by the Western media as "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide." In September 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 50,000 deaths in Darfur since the conflict's beginning, mostly by starvation.


*** I KNOW THAT THIS IS KINDA LONG TO READ, BUT IF ANYTHING, AT LEAST READ SOME OF THE MAIN POINTS IN ORDER TO BECOME AWARE OF THE SITUATION. AS FELLOW MUSLIMS & HUMAN BEGINS WE SHOULD BE CONCERNED & COMPASSIONATE TO THE PLIGHT OF OTHERS ***

There is no power nor strength save with Allah. We worship You and we seek help from You, O Allah, O beneficent, O merciful, O single, O the eternally besought independent, O the God of Muhammad, in Your direction steps advance, hearts long to go, eyes gaze, necks stretch (to reach the goal), desires desire (fulfillment) and palms (hands) are lifted. O Allah, take a fair decision between us and our people, because You are the best
of all those who decide. {Ameen}

* The conflict concerns two distinct groups in the diverse Darfur population; non-Arab black peoples like the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa, and Arab tribes collectively termed Baggara (also black by the standards of most non-Africans), who settled the region from about the 13th century onwards. Both groups are Muslims. However, relations between the two groups have been tense; the pre-colonial Fur kingdom regularly clashed with the Baggara.

What are other nations doing? Well this is where they stand...

*Russian and the U.S., along with Britain and France, a strong lobby exists opposed to intervention in countries whose internal strife is not clearly related to the nation's own interest (America and France having suffered demoralizing losses in Vietnam, as well as in Somalia and Algeria, respectively). The lack of capable foreign peacekeepers during the Rwanda and Liberia crises is a more recent example.

* Islamic Relief Action: Islamic Relief is working with around 35,000 people in and around the western town of Al-Geneina. Islamic Relief's emergency team began work in Darfur in April 2004, providing displaced people with food and shelter.





How did the conflict start?

* The conflict began in the arid and impoverished region early in 2003 after a rebel group began attacking government targets, claiming that the region was being neglected by Khartoum.

* The rebels say the government is oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs.

* There has been tension in Darfur, which means land of the Fur, for many years over land and grazing rights between the mostly nomadic Arabs and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zagawa communities.

* There are two main rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), which have been linked to senior Sudanese opposition politician Hassan al-Turabi.


What is the government doing?

*It admits mobilising "self-defence militias" following rebel attacks but denies any links to the Janjaweed**, accused of trying to "cleanse" large swathes of territory of black Africans.

*Refugees from Darfur say that following air raids by government aircraft, the Janjaweed ride into villages on horses and camels, slaughtering men, raping women and stealing whatever they can find.

*Many women report being abducted by the Janjaweed and held as sex slaves for more than a week before being released. Human rights groups, the US Congress and the former US Secretary of State Colin Powell all said that genocide was taking place - though a UN team sent to Sudan to find out instead said that war crimes had been committed, but there had been no intent to commit genocide.

*Sudan's government denies being in control of the Janjaweed and President Omar al-Bashir has called them "thieves and gangsters".

*After strong international pressure and the threat of sanctions, the government promised to disarm the Janjaweed. But there is little evidence of this so far. Thousands of extra policemen have been deployed but the refugees have little faith in the Sudanese security forces.

What has happened to the civilians?

*Millions have fled their destroyed villages, with many heading for camps near Darfur's main towns but there is not enough food, water or medicine.

*The Janjaweed patrol outside the camps and Darfurians say the men are killed and the women raped if they venture too far in search of firewood or water.

Is anyone trying to stop the fighting?

*The government and the two rebel groups signed a ceasefire in April 2004 but this has not held.

* African Union brokered peace talks in Nigeria have failed to make much progress.
Some 7,000 African Union troops have slowly been deployed in Darfur on a very limited mandate.
Experts say they are too few to cover an area the size of France and the African Union says it does not have the money to fund the operation for much longer.

* Sudan is unhappy with suggestions that the UN take control of the peacekeeping mission.

* A dossier of evidence compiled by a UN commission has also been passed to the ICC in The Hague along with the names of top war crimes suspects.

* The Sudan government has hinted that it may let Darfur run its own affairs more if this would help solve the crisis. It has agreed to let southern Sudan have its own government as part of a deal to end 20 years of conflict in that region.


* But so far the crisis shows no signs of abating
.




For More Info and To Get Involved Visit:

www.humanrightsfirst.org/

http://www.islamic-relief.com/

wasalaam :)


** The Janjaweed (Arabic جنجويد, ) is an armed militia group in Darfur, western Sudan, comprising fighters of Arab background (mainly from the originally nomadic Baggara people). Since 2003 it has been one of the principal actors in the increasingly bloody Darfur conflict, which has pitted nomadic tribes against the settled arable farmer tribes of the region. The Janjaweed represent the ruling Muslim government.

The name "Janjaweed" means "armed men on horseback." The Janjaweed is the successor to an earlier Arab tribal militia, the Murahilin (literally "nomads"), which had existed for many years beforehand.

sources:
www.wikipedia.com
www.cnn.com
www.bbc.com