Ethnic cleansing in Sudan
The Sudanese government is aiding and abetting the killing of African Muslims in its western Darfur region. According to Bloomberg: Government forces have helped so-called Arab Janjaweed militias kill thousands of members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, according to the [Human Rights Watch] report. More than one million civilians have been driven ...
The Sudanese government is aiding and abetting the killing of African Muslims in its western Darfur region. According to Bloomberg:
The Sudanese government is aiding and abetting the killing of African Muslims in its western Darfur region. According to Bloomberg:
Government forces have helped so-called Arab Janjaweed militias kill thousands of members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, according to the [Human Rights Watch] report. More than one million civilians have been driven into camps and settlements from their homes, and in excess of 110,000 others have fled into neighboring Chad…. The conflict escalated in February last year when the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement started a rebellion in Darfur, complaining that the region, particularly its black population, is marginalized by the government. Since then, the Janjaweed militia, who are also Muslim, has targeted civilians from the same ethnic groups as the rebels, according to the report. The Janjaweed, supported by government forces and helicopters, have killed civilians and religious leaders, destroyed mosques, burned homes, and looted food and livestock, the report says. “Government forces oversaw and directly participated in massacres, summary executions of civilians, including women and children, burnings of towns and villages, and the forcible depopulation of wide swathes of land long inhabited by the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa,” the report says. The Janjaweed militias “have destroyed mosques, killed Muslim religious leaders, and desecrated Korans belonging to their enemies.” Human Rights Watch documents the killing of more than 770 civilians in 14 separate attacks between September and February, and says the conflict has caused more damage than that. The HRW team spent 25 days in and near West Darfur investigating the abuses, entering from Chad. “Our report covers particular villages in one small area,” said Rone. “The killings are much more widespread.”
Here’s a link to the actual Human Rights Watch report, “Darfur Destroyed.” You can read HRW’s press release by clicking here. This looks like a job for the U.N. Human Rights Commission!! Oh, wait… UPDATE: The Economist has a nice story encapsulating the Sudan problem.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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