What’s Happening in Darfur?

Sudan is the largest country in Africa, located just south of Egypt on the eastern edge of the Sahara desert. Sudan is rich in oil, but it is not used for the benefit of the Sudanese people. Instead, while a majority of the country lives in poverty, as much as 70 percent of Sudan’s oil export revenues are used to finance the country’s military.

Darfur is an area about the size of Texas in western Sudan. The approximately 6 million inhabitants of Darfur are among the poorest in Africa with hardly any access to roads, schools, or even water sources. They exist largely on subsistence farming or nomadic herding. Even in good times, the Darfuri people live a difficult life; these are not good times in Darfur.

The current crisis in Darfur began in 2003. After decades of neglect, drought and oppression, two rebel groups mounted an insurgency against Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir. President al-Bashir’s response was brutal. To defeat the rebel movements, he armed and supported several militant groups, now collectively known as the Janjaweed.

The Janjaweed, with the Sudanese government’s support, has wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies, and systematically murdered, tortured, and raped hundreds of thousands of Darfuris.

The Sudanese government’s campaign in Darfur has been as devious as it is brutal. The military has painted many of its attack aircraft white – the color of U.N. humanitarian aircraft. When a white plane approaches, villagers do not know whether it is on a mission to help them, or to bomb them. Often, it is the latter.

This campaign and the resulting disease and starvation have already claimed as many as 400,000 lives. It has crossed borders into neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic. About 2.5 million Darfuris have fled their homes and communities and now live in cramped and uncomfortable refugee camps. They are completely dependent on humanitarian organizations and the U.N. for food, water, shelter, and health care. Another 1 million Darfuris still live in their villages, under the constant threat of bombings, raids, murder, rape and torture.

On December 31, the long-awaited hybrid United Nations-African Union mission (UNAMID) officially took control of the peacekeeping operation in Darfur. But the transition from African Union peacekeepers to this new hybrid mission was largely ceremonial. The UNAMID force lacks the equipment and support it needs to be effective, and the Sudanese government is hindering the force at every turn. The military even attacked UNAMID less than two weeks into its mission. The people of Darfur are still waiting for the promised protection of the U.N. after nearly five years of devastation.

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