What if I told you thousands of people were being killed and
hundreds of thousands more were being terrorized and forced from their homes.
Would you believe that this could be happening in this day and age? It is and
in Sudan millions of people are being affected.
Sudan’s Darfur region has been the scene of a heinous crime.
Since 2003, 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million people have been displaced. This catastrophe
has been allowed to continue for 12 long years because of the UN and AU fail to
produce an effective solution that brings lasting peace to the region. The
Peacekeeping Mission of joint AU and UN Peacekeepers, called the UNAMID, has
been in Darfur for 7 years, but has seen a resurgence of violence in the past
year. Instead of restructuring the Peacekeeping force or sending more aid,
there is a growing call for an end of a UN presence in Darfur. This cannot
happen, left to govern their own country, Sudanese leaders, will increase the
violence and thousands more innocent people will die.
The Formation of the UNAMID
After years
of internal strife Darfur erupted into wide spread violence with the insurgency
of two different rebel groups. The Sudanese government combated this by funding
a militia group called the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed then began to target
innocent people of the same ethnic group that was supporting rebel groups. The
government by definition was committing Genocide. The U.S. in 2004 actually
declared Darfur to be Genocide, but the U.S. only provided aid money to assist
the AU. It wasn’t until 2008 when the UN officially formed the UNAMID and began
to support the failing AU mission to create peace in Darfur.
The UN Security Council gave authority of the
UNAMID with the mandate
to “protect its personnel, facilities, installations, and equipment, and to
ensure the security and freedom of movement of its own personnel and
humanitarian workers.” More specifically the Security Council ordered UNAMID to “Support
early and effective implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, prevent the
disruption of its implementation and armed attacks, and protect civilians,
without prejudice to the responsibility of the Government of Sudan.” This means
the UNAMID is tasked with enforcing the Darfur Peace Agreement and to protect
innocent civilians from their aggressors. The Darfur Peace Agreement was
supposed to be what brought peace to the region. Signed in May of 2006
basically established fair elections in Sudan by 2010. It creates a ceasefire
and a line of communication to defuse future conflicts. The agreement allows
Darfur decide to become its own Nation-State or to keep the “status quo” with
the other three states in Sudan.
Even under
the Darfur Peace Agreement, the Darfur region has undergone a surge in
violence killing and displacing tens of thousands in 2014. On March 17, 2015 the
Security Council received a report from the Under-Secretary-General for
Peacekeeping describing a situation in Darfur, which was escalating in
violence. The report
gives details about the Sudanese government lack of support and the massive
displacement of innocent civilians. The report says Peacekeepers have
encountered increased limits of their access to certain areas. Specifically, in
October 2014, humanitarian aid was denied access to the scene of a mass rape in Thabit, North Darfur. These rapes are reported to have been done by Sudanese troops. Between December 1, 2014 and February 17, 2015 the
UNAMID was denied access to affected parts of Darfur 20 times. All of these instances came after reports of crimes, or a government offensive. Also because of these Government offensives Darfur, in 2014 saw the highest number of displaced
civilians since 2004. 450,000 people forced to leave their homes and only
300,000 of these people have been able to receive substantial humanitarian
aide. This is caused by the blockage the Sudanese government has put on the
UNAMID. Things are only getting worse in Darfur with over 2.5 million
internally displaced people and 43.3 percent of people in North Darfur are
malnourished. These statistics are alarming and point to a solution that
involves increased humanitarian aid and a more effective Peacekeeping force.
The Future of Peacekeeping in Darfur
This points
to a situation that needs more support and aid to create peace, not a loss of
structure and protection. There have been talks of a exit strategy for
peacekeepers. This would involve a transition of responsibilities to be
transferred to Sudanese troops and the Rapid Support Force (RSF), the same
forces that are accused of rapping 200 women in Thabit. This is the same area the
UNAMID was denied to enter into. With the region erupting in violence once
again it seems that the only law and order are the UNAMID. However with the
lack of success many countries want to remove their support. Even the UN
Secretary General Ban KI-moon has said that the UNAMID should be “shut down.” The President of
Sudan, Omar Al Bashir, believes
the same thing. He claims that “Darfur has along tradition in resolving
disputes.” The President was saying this during a speech, which his supporters
went into markets and closed down shops and forced as many people to attend as
they were able to find. This is not a President who is speaking to a cheering
crowd of loving supporters who actually believe what he is saying. Even in just
few miles away a leader of a nearby refugee camp said that the president was “a
murderer who visits the cemetery to dance on gravestones of his victims.” While
the UNAMID has been ineffective the cost has also been high. The Peacekeeping
mission has a budget
of over a billion dollars a year. In terms of human life 215 Peacekeepers have
been killed protecting innocent civilians. These Peacekeepers come from across
the globe and the money comes from many different countries. Yes the cost is
high but it is not to high to buy the freedom and safety of millions of people. The death toll is not even the worst part. With the influx of refugees, camps in Sudan and neighboring Chad have continually deteriorating conditions. Resources are stretched very thin and these people were not able to bring very much with them. Living in makeshift tents and scraping out a meager existence. People living in these camps are malnurished and water is becoming harder and harder to find. There is an increased need for much more humanitarian aid.
In 2007 there were over 25,000 UN peacekeepers in
Darfur. However by February 28, 2015 the number of Peacekeepers was only about
16,000. According
to Aicha Elbasri, who was a spokesperson for the UNAMID mission in Darfur,
ending the Peacekeeping mission would lead be catastrophic. Elbasri was a
spokesperson form 2012-2013. In 2013, she resigned because she felt that more
needed to be done to protect the innocent people of Darfur. She felt that the
UN was purposely not publishing full reports of the atrocities happening and
called it a “conspiracy of silence.” Elbasri points out that almost no media is
able to report in the region because of the military action. The only media
outlet is a radio station called Radio Dabanga. Also she believes the ICC’s decision
to hold the investigation on Darfur could lead the court to become
“irrelevant.” Finally, she says that if the Peacekeeping mission is ended and
the ICC is not pursuing any more investigation that “the international
community may once again be forced to admit that those immortal words, never
again.” This is a direct reference to the Holocaust and the mass killings of
millions of people. The world should not stand by while innocent people are
being killed, raped, or forced from their homes.
Conclusion
Is hundreds
of thousands of innocent people dead not enough to encourage an end to this
violence? These events could be our generation’s biggest regret. In the future,
many will ask why did we do so little, why did we not step in a protect so many
innocent people. These crimes have been allowed to gone on for to many years.
It is not a time to give up it is a time to increase efforts to stand between
Darfur’s innocent people and the violence they face. We cannot allow criminals
who have been found guilty of crimes against humanity to be left free to keep
committing these crimes. The world has a duty to stop the events of the Holocaust
from being repeated in Darfur. If the systematic killing of so many people,
should never happen again then why is it happening right now?
I'd like to find something I disagree strongly about but I don't. I think one of the biggest problems is that the general public isn't aware or doesn't care about these issues. If there were strong public support and outcry to try and help the people in the Darfur region, than it is much more likely that there would be a bigger response to what's happening. It seems a tad cliche but I think the more people know about this the more that will be done about it.
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ReplyDeleteA concise write up on an issue few know anything about. You did an excellent job of addressing what is being done in the region and how that is lacking in nearly every way. It's an issue that has received very little attention from the world public, even less so here in the United States. It's difficult to try and raise awareness for this issue when many people can't even point out the Sudan on a map, much less the Darfur region. You bring light to a topic that needs to be discussed and debated by the world. Your call to action is certainly needed, if we claim that genocide will not be repeated, perhaps we should actually take steps, like you suggested, to come to these people's aid.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea there was anything like this going on in Sudan. You would think that a crisis that major would draw the attention of the media. This was a very interesting and informative post. It’s hard to believe that something of this magnitude has gone so unnoticed. Most people think hunger is a huge issue in countries like this, but there are much worse things going on than anyone could imagine. If something like this was going on in our country, even something minor, everyone would know about it and something would be done to stop it. Unfortunately, when we are not directly affected, we tend to not care.
ReplyDeleteI’m truly grateful for this up date. Back in 2005, I use to be on an emailing list that kept me up to date about this horrific situation. I’m sad to say that over time I stopped using that email and never rerouted email from that account. Thank you. I was sad to hear that not much has changed. I agree with you that something must be done. I would like to think that if I was in that situation that someone, anyone would come and help. I wish you would have added suggestions for what, someone like me could do to help.
ReplyDeleteYou did a wonderful job laying out your blog. I enjoyed the subheadings.
I enjoyed your blog and I'm glad you posted it. Definitely different than from others. Before reading this, I honestly had no clue this event was even occurring. You did an excellent job providing information. You made it easy and clear for me as a reader. It was nicely organized and appealing to all readers. I agree with you one hundred percent with everything you said. I also agree with Jordan Neeben and his comment, the biggest problem are the people who aren't aware or don't care about these type of issues. There would be a much greater response to the event, if more people know about it.
ReplyDeleteVery well written article Bryce. I remember learning about the genocide in Darfur in our International Relations class we took together with Dr. Rowling. I was very disturbed by the pictures and videos that he showed us. Serving on the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Committee at the Model UN conference we went to during spring break gave me a new perspective on internally displaced people in refugee camps. I wish the United Nations would take more action to fund camps so that refugees could have access to food and education.
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