By Issa A. Mansaray, USA
Conclusion of a two-part story
Darfur is becoming increasingly dangerous. In recent
weeks, 10 African Union (AU) peacekeepers were killed
and their weapons and equipment stolen from one of
their camps. The AU’s 5,400 peacekeepers in Darfur
lack a mandate to stop the Janjaweeds and other
militias.
Approved on July 31, 2007, the United Nations
peacekeeping mission is supposed to be in Sudan by
January 1. However, the Khartoum government continues
to frustrate the international effort, which now seems
unlikely to occur. Khartoum is trying to change the
demographic of the region by allowing the Janjaweed
and Murle militias’ continuous rape of teenage girls
and marriages with more than five concubines.
Against their will, young boys are abducted to the
north where they are brainwashed in military training
camps. Forcefully enlisted in the army, these youths
work as mine-sweepers at the front lines.
“Sudan’s war is still going on, and nobody knows when
it is going to end,” said Arku Tokpah a Liberian
student in Brooklyn Center. “Unless God brings it to
an end.”
From October 11 to 17, the University of Minnesota’s
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, in
collaboration with the Genocide Network, presented a
week of events to raise awareness of the genocide in
Darfur. The event included an interactive Camp Darfur
and a new documentary, The Devil Came on Horseback,
which depicts the war through the eyes of U.S. Marine
Captain Brian Steidle, who monitored a 2004 Sudan
cease-fire for the African Union.
The international community has accused China, the
Khartoum government’s main trade partner, for
indirectly supporting the bloodbath in Darfur and
other parts of Sudan. China reportedly plays a huge
role in Darfur by supplying Khartoum with arms used in
the carnage against the people, according to the New
York-based Human Rights Watch.
For the past several years, Sudan President Omar
Hassan Al-Bashir’s government has redirected funds
from the oil trade with China to purchase more arms
rather then building schools in places like Liliir,
where U of M graduate student Gabriel Kou Solomon’s
nieces Yar and Ajak were recently abducted.
“The oil revenue is not coming for the benefit of the
people of Sudan, but to kill our people in Darfur,”
Jem field commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr told the
BBC’s Network Africa program. “All the people of
Darfur believe that China is a partner for this
genocidal government in Khartoum.”
Congress Member Betty McCollum has supported three
recent Darfur bills and asked for tougher measures
against Khartoum. In a letter to Chinese Ambassador
Zhou Wenzhong, dated April 27, 2007, Rep. McCollum
highlighted China’s role in supporting the Darfur
genocide and in its impact on the 2008 Beijing
Olympics.
Not all is lost
There is still hope to help Darfuris if people are
educated about the ongoing genocide and intensify
their advocacy activities on behalf of the region and
its people.
“People need to know that genocide is happening,” said
Dr. Ellen J. Kennedy, outreach coordinator of the
Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. “The
average Minnesotan knows very little or nothing about
this crisis, unfortunately, and education is the first
step.
“This is a particularly vicious genocide in its
targeting of women and girls with gender-based
violence,” said Kennedy, who also serves as
coordinator at the Genocide Intervention Network in
Minnesota. She encourages Minnesotans and anyone else
interested in helping Darfuris to follow the news and
attend public events about Darfur.
“Genocides happen because we let them happen. Unless
ordinary Americans tell their legislators that we want
these atrocities to stop, our legislators don’t know
that we care,” said Kennedy. “The way to contact our
legislators is to call 1-800-GENOCIDE. This toll-free
call can be made anywhere in the U.S. and is the
single most effective way to reach our elected
officials in Washington.”
The Genocide Intervention Network raises funds to
support a limited peacekeeping force in Darfur and to
provide security for women and girls at risk. It has
raised more than $500,000 through donations for direct
programs in Darfur. Kennedy believes that Minnesotans
could do more by donating to stop what she called this
“scourge of the 21st century.”
Over the past years, Minnesota’s 10 elected officials
in Washington (eight representatives and two senators)
have voted on Darfur or on genocide-related
legislation. Some, like Sen. Coleman and Rep. Ellison,
have been relentless, while others, like Rep. Kline,
have earned a “D” according to DarfurScores.org, which
monitors House and Senate representatives on the
issue.
On May 23, Minnesota became the 13th of 20 states in
the U.S. to pass divestment legislation. The bill
effectively removed any investments in the state’s $31
billion pension fund from a targeted list of about 24
companies that are complicit in supporting the Darfur
genocide. This support comes principally through
petroleum companies in China, India, Malaysia and a
few others.
On the local level, the city of Edina, Minnesota,
became the third city in the country to pass
anti-genocide legislation, behind Chicago and San
Francisco.
Though Minnesota’s elected officials are trying to
address the problem, Kennedy suggests they could do
more if they pass an anti-genocide resolution like
Edina and divest local public funds from the targeted
list of complicit companies.
A major source of concern for Solomon and some of his
activist colleagues is that it is difficult to reach
many Sudanese to launch campaigns. “The sad thing is
to reach out the Sudanese community in the U.S. to
write letters to Congress,” said Solomon. “How to get
the information to reach the international community
is a problem.”
Among the Sudanese, there is a problem in advocating
against the Darfur genocide and the rampant child
abductions. Many people do not know what to do. They
do not how they can help, because most are unaware of
the available resources, such the Human Rights
Department at the University of Minnesota.
Some Sudanese go to college while others work full
time. If they are not in a university or other
academic setting, it is difficult for them to follow
the situation in Darfur or Liliir, opined Solomon.
These days, Solomon spends time calling many of
Sudan’s “Lost Boys” living in the U.S. Some he calls
to tell them what to do, to sign online petitions and
join discussions on Facebook, write letters to
Congress, and reach the international community to
save Yar, Ajak, and many other abducted children.
“Genocide will continue to be a scourge of the 21st
century as it was in the 20th century... There are
expanding numbers of young, angry, unemployed men and
women in poor nations who believe they have nothing to
lose,” said Kennedy.
Meanwhile, the war in Darfur drags on with multiple
assaults on civilians by the Janjaweeds as key rebel
leaders boycott the Oct. 27 peace talks in Libya.
For more information: Go to www.darfurscores.org to
see how each of the 10 Minnesota officials in
Washington have voted on Darfur or on genocide-related
legislation; go to www.genocideintervention.net to
read about Darfur and sign up for weekly news updates;
go to www.mngin.org and check the calendar for related
speakers, films, and events happening throughout the
state.
Photo, left to right: Sudanese Vice President Kiir, Kou and Amanda.
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