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Sun. April 10, 2011 **Darfur’s Destruction ** By John Colven

It’s surprising how long genocide has been affecting the citizens of Darfur. It’s been about eight years since General Omar Bashir overtook power in Sudan in 2003. In a fight for political power in the area of Darfur, weapons started entering Darfur which sparked conflict between African Farmers and Nomadic Arab tribes (unitedhumanrights). Bashir was not a very good leader. In fact, he is known for his inability to protect the citizens from the Arab tribes. Due to his irresponsibility, groups in Darfur began to fight back against the Sudanese Government. Of these groups, the two most known were the Sudan Liberation Army and Justice and Equality Movement. Bashir did not take too kindly to this rebellion. So he struck back by hiring a group of Arab militias known as the Janjaweed. For the past eight years, villages such as Muhajariya have been invaded, destroyed and forgotten (keyhole). As for the residents of these villages, they are tortured, burned, raped brutally killed by other means and sometimes kidnapped. Since it all began, around 400,000 people have been killed; that’s 150 people a day (dosomething). Around 250,000 were forced to flee Darfur entirely and take refuge in Chad. The few people that do survive these large raids on villages must do what they can to keep away from the Janjaweed. Their best plan is to find an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camp, which are overcrowded and disease infested (darfuraustralia). Over three million people are living in these camps; most are younger children, separated from their families. It seems obvious that an intervention is necessary. However, interventions cannot just be ordered out to be done overnight. The main reason no country can ignite an intervention is because they need the consent of the Sudanese Government to enter Sudan. Clearly we have not gotten that permission (ploughshares). Sudan only allows us to send humanitarian aid groups to give food and medicine. Groups like Food for Peace and Foreign Disaster Assistance are in Darfur, tending to the sick and hungry. Food for Peace is a fifty year old organization that has donated over $280,000,000 and Foreign Disaster Assistance has donated over $80,000,000. While it still is not enough money to cure all of the affected citizens, they are also being forced to withdraw from Darfur. Janjaweed will not hesitate from killing any of these humanitarian aid group workers which is causing stress among the organizations, forcing them to withdraw (usaid). Money just does not seem to be doing the job in this situation. Since 2003, The United States is the leading donor of over one billion dollars to Darfur (thenation). But money is only taking them so far. An intervention is necessary and if it does not happen soon, it could mean the end to an entire country.

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