The hypocrisy in the American administration can not be overlooked when it comes to Darfur. This "mission" to save the people of Iraq is shown for
what it really is, when we see how the innocent souls of Darfur are being sacrificed. I honestly did not believe what I was reading when I came
across this. I would have to reread some of the material I had on this, but I do remember two
horrible droughts that the people of Darfur were
forced to endure. As each year passed, their crops were less and less. However, they thought they were safe as their crops were still coming in.
When in actuality, they had nothing. One day they woke up, and literally had nothing. Unfortunately this day continued on for many, many years.
This alone is something that I would not wish upon my worst enemy. But on top of that, they are forced to deal with a genocide from a militant group
acting as hired thugs by their government.
Google, "Janjaweed" and you will probably get some results that are in reference to this group of individuals.
Who are the Janjaweed?
Much of the violence in Sudan, which has created over 1 million refugees, has been attributed to militias known as the Janjaweed. Who are the
Janjaweed?
The word, an Arabic colloquialism, means "a man with a gun on a horse." Janjaweed militiamen are primarily members of nomadic "Arab" tribes
who've long been at odds with Darfur's settled "African" farmers, who are darker-skinned. (The labels Arab and African are rather misleading,
given the complexity of the region's ethnic history. For simplicity's sake, Explainer will stick with these inelegant terms.) Until 2003, the
conflicts were mostly over Darfur's scarce water and land resources—desertification has been a serious problem, so grazing areas and wells are at a
premium. In fact, the term "Janjaweed" has for years been synonymous with bandit, as these horse- or camel-borne fighters were known to swoop in on
non-Arab farms to steal cattle.
The Janjaweed started to become much more aggressive in 2003, after two non-Arab groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality
Movement, took up arms against the Sudanese government, alleging mistreatment by the Arab regime in Khartoum. In response to the uprising, the
Janjaweed militias began pillaging towns and villages inhabited by members of the African tribes from which the rebel armies draw their strength—the
Zaghawa, Masalit, and Fur tribes. (This conflict is entirely separate from the 22-year-old civil war that has pitted the Muslim government against
Christian and animist rebels in the country's southern region. The Janjaweed, who inhabit western Sudan, have nothing to do with that war.)
Who are the Janjaweed?
This is only one of the references that google will pump out. I highly, highly recommend you give it a read.
Things like:
+Darfur +Government Corruption
+Darfur +Droughts
+Darfur +Janjaweed
Plug some of these combinations into Google and you will quickly get a clear picture to what these poor souls have been through.
....We got Saddam though!
[edit on 13-3-2007 by chissler]
