Category: Darfur

At the end of September, the African Union will withdraw its troops from the Darfur region of the Sudan. The UN has no plans to send troops into the region until January of 2007, and the US has yet to promise any involvment in the ongoing genocide.

Congress crafted a resolution to urge the President to send peacekeeping troops to the region — entitled HR 723, which has yet to make it to a vote. If you’re interested in showing your support for this bill, write your Congressman and urge him to co-sponsor the bill.

For more info — see the Genocide Intervention Network.

Even as relief organizations attempt to aid refugees in the devastated Darfur region, a recent report claims that the Sudan Liberation Army has fractured and the government is again supporting attacks. Minni Arcua Minnawi, leader of the SLA and signer of a May cease-fire agreement, has come into conflict with these new SLA groups, and has allegedly carried out attacks on at least two of them.

The Sudanese government is using white helicopters, the kind used by African Union and UN peacekeepers, to aid in the attacks against the splinter groups. This infighting has led to the murder, rape, and displacement of some 8,000 civilians, and reports continue to stream out that aid workers are being attacked “on an almost daily basis.”

Even though the US has long labeled the crisis in Darfur as genocide, the UN has been keeping the entire conflict at arms length. However, for the first time during the African country’s troubles, the United Nations Security Council has taken an unprecedented step forward and asked the International Criminal Court to investigate allegations of war crimes in Sudan.

The Sudanese Minister of Justice, Mohammed al-Mardi, took a firm stance on what he fears might unfold in his nation:

“If they are here to discuss the progress of trials or the role of national justice then we are ready to give them whatever information they are looking for. But if the matter is about investigations, then they….don’t have the jurisdiction.”

This is at least partially correct, as the ICC doesn’t have the authority to try people who have been properly processed in a national court. Human Rights Watch maintains that the Sudanese government established its own court to handle the Darfur crisis, but has only tried 13 minor cases to date.

A recent Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post highlights the recent series of problems in Darfur, and outlines the obstacles in addressing it as genocide.

The violence in Darfur is reportedly getting worse, even with an international peace treaty currently in place. Two separate reports claim that the Sudanese government isn’t stopping the violence against the African inhabitants of the region, nor is it moving to disarm the militia who are responsible for the on-going attacks.