Mass rape atrocity in west Sudan

[emad]

From BBC News:

More than 100 women have been raped in a single attack carried out by Arab militias in Darfur in western Sudan. Speaking to the BBC, the United Nations co-ordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, said the conflict had created the worst humanitarian situation in the world. He said more than one million people were affected by "ethnic cleansing". He said the fighting was characterised by scorched-earth policies and systematic rape comparing it to the Rwandan genocide of 1994. "It is more than just a conflict. It is an organised attempt to do away with a group of people," he said.

Arab militias backed by the government have driven hundreds of thousands from their homes, in retaliation for a rebellion launched a year ago by two armed groups. They accused the Arab-dominated government of ignoring the black African inhabitants of Darfur. More than 100,000 people have fled across the border into Chad, but have continued to face cross-border raids.

Mr Kapila said 75 people were killed in the attack on the village of Tawila at sunrise by Arab militiamen two weeks ago. "All houses as well as a market and a health centre were completely looted and the market burnt. Over 100 women were raped, six in front of their fathers who were later killed," he said. A further 150 women and 200 children were abducted.

This attack a fortnight ago is one of many across the arid territory. Village after village is being razed to the ground by the militias, he said. To compound the problem, aid agencies can only reach small parts of Darfur and are subject to attacks. Mr Kapila called for more aid and for urgent international intervention to bring about a ceasefire in the war. "I was present in Rwanda at the time of the genocide, and I've seen many other situations around the world and I am totally shocked at what is going on in Darfur," he told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "This is ethnic cleansing, this is the world's greatest humanitarian crisis, and I don't know why the world isn't doing more about it." The fighting in the west of Sudan has intensified as government peace talks to resolve the 20-year war with southern rebels are nearing an end. But the UN is concerned that this conflict could undermine the peace talks in Kenya.

From:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3549325.stm

[hackwriter]

1. Does Sudan have oil?

If not, you can bet that the "human rights" of this particular population aren't going to warrant invasion and liberation.

[mobuto]

3. In fairness

The Sudan is one of Bill Frist's signature issues. Now you can speculate on his motives (the victims are generally Christian, and the aggressors, Muslim) but he's been outspoken on the subject of assisting the Sudanese minority and he's actually gone there.

[demdave]

2. Where's the U.N. ? Where's the E.U.? Where are the other African nations?

The U.N. is worthless. They have done nothing in Africa. They can't even handle Kosovo. The E.U. doesn't care about about Africa. As for the rest of Africa, they are busy committing their own atrocities.

[bobbyboucher]

6. Where is the US?

Why did you leave us out? We're the ones with the most dough, the strongest, biggest military, the biggest economy, etc. etc.

Did you just forget?

[seemslikeadream]

4. Sudan: Nearly 2m dead as a result of the world's longest civil war

12 percent of those who are starving are adults - a high percentage compared with similar crises.

88 percent of the caseload at the feeding centers are children. These are just two of the estimated 200,000 Sudanese children who are at risk

These boys hid when slave raiders attacked. They managed to survive, but 500 boys and girls were taken, and 36 were drowned in a nearby river.

Each of these parents lost children to slave raiders. It's amazing to think about the grief of a community when one American child goes missing - imagine an entire village of children vanishing.
http://www.refugees.org/news/crisis/sudan_g12.htm

[Roaming]

5. This is simply heartbreaking--thanks for the pictures

I'm getting choked up even as I type this. I pray that some help gets to this country SOON.

[yellowcanine]

7. So when do we invade?

Don't the Sudanese deserve liberation as much as the Iraqis?

[bedtimeforbonzo]

8. sounds like

there may have been american servicemen in the area.

[theHandpuppet]

9. While the world turns a blind eye...

This link http://www.alertnet.org will take you to the site of the Reuters Foundation, "Alerting humanitarians to emergencies". I think it is well worth bookmarking for its coverage of humanitarian crises around the globe. The recent article below is one I found very interesting with regard to why the world seems to turn a blind eye to the terrible suffering in some African nations:

03 Mar 2004
Charities face dilemma: food parcels or press releases
http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/107832661891.htm

(Excerpt)
  
WHAT GETS A CRISIS NOTICED?


Journalists said an emergency stands the best chance of coverage if it has a high death toll; involves a population from the same background as the audience; has created suffering among children; can provide compelling visuals or eyewitness accounts; and has foreign policy implications for the journalist’s country.

“A crisis story is compelling for the press when it involves mass migration of people, ongoing violence, or significant death. It is compelling when there are visuals: refugee camps etc.,” one respondent said.

“It is less compelling when it is a story of chronic deprivation, or when the story is far from our comfort zone, i.e. Rwanda, Congo.”

That’s a tall order, ruling out many current emergencies for journalists in most countries.

This may explain the high level of “forgotten emergencies” identified by relief charities -- why there has been relatively plentiful coverage of Afghanistan and Iraq and relatively little of the huge loss of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo or the scourge of malaria in Africa.

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