Genocide Emergency: Darfur, Sudan
By Dr. Gregory H. Stanton
President, Genocide Watch
(April 2, 2004) Ten years ago, the world abandoned Rwanda’s Tutsis to genocide. 800,000 people were murdered by their Hutu neighbors. Although a heroic Canadian general, Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire requested reinforcements for the 2,500 United Nations peacekeepers in Rwanda and a mandate to stop the genocide, the U.N. Security Council instead voted to withdraw U.N. troops. We watched and washed our hands.
Today 800,000 Africans from Darfur, Sudan have been driven from their homes by Arab militias, supported by Sudanese government air strikes, in the worst case of ethnic cleansing since Kosovo. 700,000 are in camps inside Sudan closed to relief organizations and the press. Over 100,000 have fled across the desert border into Chad, where over 10,000 have already died of hunger and thirst.
Armed by the Sudanese government, the Arab “Janjaweed” militias murder, rape, and pillage African villages with impunity. Their leaders from the “Arab Gathering” credit the “Arab race” with “civilization,” and consider black Africans to be “abd” (male slaves) and “kahdim” (female slaves.) In Tweila, North Darfur, on 27 February 2004, according to the U.N. Darfur Task Force, the Janjaweed and Sudanese army murdered at least 200 people and gang-raped over 200 girls and women, many in front of their fathers and husbands, whom they then killed. The Janjaweed branded those they raped on their hands to mark them permanently so they would be shunned.
Genocidal massacres and mass rape are the tactics of ethnic cleansing. Their intent is to terrorize Africans such as the Fur, Massaleit, and Zaghawa into leaving Darfur, where an African kingdom and sultanate ruled for 2000 years.
The Genocide Convention defines genocide as “the intentional destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.” Ethnic cleansing is distinguishable from genocide, because its intent is expulsion, rather than physical destruction of a group. But genocidal massacres are a common tactic in ethnic cleansing. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are not mutually exclusive.
A common misconception about genocide is that it requires the intent to destroy an entire group. But the Genocide Convention clearly states that it only requires that a part of an ethnic or racial group be destroyed for the term genocide to apply. If the victims of mass murder are selected solely because they are members of an ethnic or racial group, that is genocide. Both genocide and ethnic cleansing are now underway in Darfur.
The Arab militias of Darfur want to drive out black Africans in order to confiscate their grazing lands, water resources, and cattle herds.
Farther south, the Sudanese government wants to confiscate rich oil reserves under the lands of the Nuer, Dinka, Shilluk, Nuba and other black African groups. A twenty year civil war has driven thousands of Africans into refugee camps, which the Sudanese air force has regularly bombed. The Khartoum government has repeatedly cut off food aid. Over two million people have died.
A “peace process” mediated by the U.S., U.K., Norway, and Italy is hammering out an agreement to end the civil war in the south. Recently there was much exultation when the Sudanese government and southern rebel leaders agreed to divide up the oil revenues. You can be sure no African peasants will ever see a penny of the money. You can also be sure that in five years, when the southerners are to decide on “self-determination,” the northern Arabs won’t let them decide.
For Darfur, many governments and human rights groups now call for another “peace process.” They also call for another U.N. relief program for the refugees and displaced persons. Both are needed
By Dr. Gregory H. Stanton
President, Genocide Watch
(April 2, 2004) Ten years ago, the world abandoned Rwanda’s Tutsis to genocide. 800,000 people were murdered by their Hutu neighbors. Although a heroic Canadian general, Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire requested reinforcements for the 2,500 United Nations peacekeepers in Rwanda and a mandate to stop the genocide, the U.N. Security Council instead voted to withdraw U.N. troops. We watched and washed our hands.
Today 800,000 Africans from Darfur, Sudan have been driven from their homes by Arab militias, supported by Sudanese government air strikes, in the worst case of ethnic cleansing since Kosovo. 700,000 are in camps inside Sudan closed to relief organizations and the press. Over 100,000 have fled across the desert border into Chad, where over 10,000 have already died of hunger and thirst.
Armed by the Sudanese government, the Arab “Janjaweed” militias murder, rape, and pillage African villages with impunity. Their leaders from the “Arab Gathering” credit the “Arab race” with “civilization,” and consider black Africans to be “abd” (male slaves) and “kahdim” (female slaves.) In Tweila, North Darfur, on 27 February 2004, according to the U.N. Darfur Task Force, the Janjaweed and Sudanese army murdered at least 200 people and gang-raped over 200 girls and women, many in front of their fathers and husbands, whom they then killed. The Janjaweed branded those they raped on their hands to mark them permanently so they would be shunned.
Genocidal massacres and mass rape are the tactics of ethnic cleansing. Their intent is to terrorize Africans such as the Fur, Massaleit, and Zaghawa into leaving Darfur, where an African kingdom and sultanate ruled for 2000 years.
The Genocide Convention defines genocide as “the intentional destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.” Ethnic cleansing is distinguishable from genocide, because its intent is expulsion, rather than physical destruction of a group. But genocidal massacres are a common tactic in ethnic cleansing. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are not mutually exclusive.
A common misconception about genocide is that it requires the intent to destroy an entire group. But the Genocide Convention clearly states that it only requires that a part of an ethnic or racial group be destroyed for the term genocide to apply. If the victims of mass murder are selected solely because they are members of an ethnic or racial group, that is genocide. Both genocide and ethnic cleansing are now underway in Darfur.
The Arab militias of Darfur want to drive out black Africans in order to confiscate their grazing lands, water resources, and cattle herds.
Farther south, the Sudanese government wants to confiscate rich oil reserves under the lands of the Nuer, Dinka, Shilluk, Nuba and other black African groups. A twenty year civil war has driven thousands of Africans into refugee camps, which the Sudanese air force has regularly bombed. The Khartoum government has repeatedly cut off food aid. Over two million people have died.
A “peace process” mediated by the U.S., U.K., Norway, and Italy is hammering out an agreement to end the civil war in the south. Recently there was much exultation when the Sudanese government and southern rebel leaders agreed to divide up the oil revenues. You can be sure no African peasants will ever see a penny of the money. You can also be sure that in five years, when the southerners are to decide on “self-determination,” the northern Arabs won’t let them decide.
For Darfur, many governments and human rights groups now call for another “peace process.” They also call for another U.N. relief program for the refugees and displaced persons. Both are needed
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