For the last three years, one of the world's greatest tragedies – and what amounts to genocide -- has been unfolding in a remote region of Western Sudan. Under the command of the Sudanese government, the Janjaweed, an informal Arab militia who operate on horse and camel, have repeatedly been attacking and massacring local African agriculturalists in Darfur, an area the size of Texas. Estimates suggest that over 450,000 people have died from violence, disease, and malnutrition, and that upward of a million more have been displaced. In response to repeated calls for action to stop the killing and violence, the major powers of the globe - the UN, the US, European nations, Middle Eastern states, and China -- have done little or nothing. Every week new raids erupt. Two eyewitnesses to this tragedy reported on it on May 17, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. in Reidy Friendship Hall at the Unitarian Church of All Souls. Yahya Osman, Secretary General of the Darfur Rehabilitation Project, and Martha Thompson, UUSC Program Manager for Human Rights in Emergencies and Disaster Situations, described both the devastation and destruction in Darfur and the actions their respective organizations have taken to ameliorate it. This event was co-sponsored by the Peace Task Force of All Souls; the Darfur Rehabilitation Project; the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee; UU United Nations Office; the Brooklyn Unitarian Universalist Church of New York; and Action for Justice Committee of Community Church of NY. Yahya Osman explained some of Darfur 's complicated history. For years the Arab and African peoples lived at peace in the three areas of Darfur: the north (Shamal), the west (Gharb), and the south (Janub). As water and arable land became scarce, however, the various tribal groups began to struggle over their use. At the same time, owing to regime changes in Khartoum, Sudan's capital – with alternating democracy and dictatorship – there was little government support for the Darfur region. Because of little support and protection, the African communities of Darfur eventually took up arms to demand their human rights. Consequently, the Sudanese government, perceiving the Africans in Darfur as insurgents, undertook to destroy them systematically by allowing the Arab raiders – the Janjaweed -- to operate against them. This policy was and is still being carried out by the Janjaweed, to whom Khartoum gives arms and supplies. The death, destruction, and displacement of the African people have been enormous: men and boys have been killed; women and girls raped and abducted; farms and all agricultural systems destroyed; villages burned and cattle looted and killed. All this has caused people to flee their homes and try to settle in refugee camps elsewhere. Virtually no crops have been planted this year. People are starving in refugee camps. These camps can receive supplies only transported overland by trucks. Even that is difficult due to the lack of roads and the government's effort to block help to the Africans. As a result, refugees are dying now as much from malnutrition and disease as from being murdered. Oil also plays a role in this tragedy. Government leaders allowed genocide to clear the inhabitants from the oil regions in southern Sudan so that foreign countries (Canada, Sweden, Austria, China, Malaysia, and India) could drill there. From 1989 to 2002, the government used genocide as a method of controlling the African tribes. Genocide had become the government's general mode of operation. According to Yahya Osman, the mission of the Darfur Rehabilitation Project is to raise awareness in the rest of the world to the plight of the Africans in Darfur. He says that people in the refugee camps are thankful for support, but they need much more help. As do the two and one-half million refugees from Darfur who are now in neighboring Chad. Martha Thompson of the UUSC reported both on atrocities that UUSC staff had observed in the refugee camps in Chad and on the displaced people in Darfur. Villages are still being burned; women and girls are raped as they gather firewood, food, and water; men are shot if they leave a refugee camp to get supplies. Since people are not safe in the camps because the government is supporting and arming the Janjaweed, they are moving constantly. Humanitarian agencies are overwhelmed, not only by the amount of aid needed, but also from the difficulty of delivering it without adequate roads. Now the peace proposal of May 2006 is in jeopardy. First, it has not been signed by all three groups of insurgents. Second, the proposal is weak, as it lacks any measures for accountability and provides that the Janjaweed will be disarmed only of their heavy weapons. Third, the suggested solution of creating three distinct regions of Darfur would be more divisive. There are other limitations on help from the outside world. Outside agencies are hampered by the Sudanese government in their efforts to bring security. The African Union’s force, which is small (7,000) and underfunded, can only protect; they cannot stop the fighting. Even if the UN could use force, it is undermined in its efforts to bring about peace by both Russia and China: the one which sells arms to the Sudanese government, which in turn arms the Janjaweed; and the latter which invests in Sudanese oil. Lively questions and answers followed the presentation. As members of the audience grappled with the enormity of the disaster and the complicated issues, they suggested several ways to bring peace to Darfur, including: putting pressure on the Sudanese government and on specific officials in the Sudanese government; putting pressure on companies that invest in Sudan; supporting women's participation in the Sudanese government; and advocating for human rights. Clearly, we need to know more about this disastrous human situation if we are to exercise our moral obligation to work to stop this genocide now.
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