Prosperity Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 I can't find much good information on the web. Atleast not very credible ones. If anyone knows please post some of the sources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Fever Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Here's one. http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/04/02/sudan8389.htm Sudan: Massive Atrocities in Darfur Almost One Million Civilians Forcibly Displaced in Government’s Scorched-Earth Campaign (New York, April 2, 2004) — The Sudanese government is complicit in crimes against humanity committed by government-backed militias in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. In a scorched-earth campaign, government forces and Arab militias are killing, raping and looting African civilians that share the same ethnicities as rebel forces in this western region of Sudan. The Khartoum government has tried to repress this rebellion with lightning speed in hope that the international community wouldn’t have time to mobilize and press the government to halt its devastation of Darfur. But the Sudanese government will still have to answer for crimes against humanity that cannot be ignored. The report, “Darfur in Flames: Atrocities in Western Sudan,” describes a government strategy of forced displacement targeting civilians of the non-Arab ethnic communities from which the two main rebel groups—the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)—are mainly drawn. Human Rights Watch found that the military is indiscriminately bombing civilians, while both government forces and militias are systematically destroying villages and conducting brutal raids against the Fur, Masaalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. “The Sudanese military and government-backed militias are committing massive human rights violations daily in the western region of Darfur,” said Georgette Gagnon, deputy director for the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “The government’s campaign of terror has already forcibly displaced one million innocent civilians, and the numbers are increasing by the day.” Human Rights Watch called on the government of Sudan to immediately disarm and disband the militias, and allow international humanitarian groups access to provide relief to the displaced persons. The government has recruited and armed over 20,000 militiamen of Arab descent and operates jointly with these militias, known as “janjaweed,” in attacks on civilians from the Fur, Masaalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups. In the past year, nearly one million civilians have fled their rural villages. Most are displaced into towns and camps where they continue to be murdered, raped and looted by the militias. Although Arab and African communities in Darfur for decades have intermittently clashed over land and scarce resources, the current conflict began 14 months ago when two new rebel groups emerged. The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) demanded that the Sudanese government stop arming the Arab groups in Darfur and address longstanding grievances over underdevelopment in the region. In response, the government launched a massive bombing campaign which, combined with the raids of the marauding militias, have forced more than 800,000 people from their homes and sent an additional 110,000 people into neighboring Chad. In a scorched-earth campaign, government forces and militias have killed several thousand Fur, Zaghawa and Masaalit civilians, routinely raped women and girls, abducted children, and looted tens of thousands of head of cattle and other property. In many areas of Darfur, they have deliberately burned hundreds of villages and destroyed water sources and other infrastructure, making it much harder for the former residents to return. “The militias are not only killing individuals, they are decimating the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families,” Gagnon said. “The people being targeted are the farmers of the region, and unless these abuses are stopped and people receive humanitarian relief, we could see famine in a few months’ time.” U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan should request the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights to immediately dispatch a mission of inquiry to investigate the situation in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said. The mission should report back to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, currently meeting in Geneva, before the end of its session on April 23. Human Rights Watch urged the U.N. Commission on Human Rights to adopt a resolution—under item 9—to appoint a special rapporteur for human rights in Sudan. The report describes how government forces allow the janjaweed to operate with full impunity. Government forces fail to protect civilians even when these unarmed people have appealed to the military and police forces, warning that their villages were about to be attacked. Government forces and janjaweed have also obstructed the flight of civilians escaping to Chad. “The Khartoum government has tried to repress this rebellion with lightning speed in hope that the international community wouldn’t have time to mobilize and press the government to halt its devastation of Darfur,” added Gagnon, “But the Sudanese government will still have to answer for crimes against humanity that cannot be ignored.” The Sudan peace talks in Kenya convened by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an intergovernmental body of East African countries, are limited to the two main parties to the 20-year conflict in Southern Sudan. The peace talks do not include Darfur or the Darfurian rebels. Taking advantage of the internationally regulated ceasefire in the south, the Sudanese government has shifted its attack helicopters and other heavy weapons, purchased with oil revenue from the south, to the western region of Darfur. The government’s indiscriminate bombing, scorched-earth military campaign, and denial of access to humanitarian assistance in Darfur reflects the same deadly strategy employed in the south, with yet more rapid dislocation and devastation than witnessed or experienced there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Fever Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Here is a link to several stories from that same site. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0404/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom [Giants fan] Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 This board is better than a set of encyclopedias. While I'm not sure why you would want info like this and don't want to know, you can ask for almost anything and someone, somewhere on this board will give you what you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Fever Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Another. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2982818.stm Uganda's atrocious war By Will Ross BBC, Kitgum, Uganda Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has become synonymous with torture, abductions and killings "They tied me and laid me down. They told me not to cry. Not to make any noise. Then one man sat on my chest, men held my arms, legs, and one held my neck". "Another picked up an axe. First he chopped my left hand, then my right. Then he chopped my nose, my ears and my mouth with a knife." 23-year-old David was abducted by rebels of the LRA, who falsely accused him of being a government soldier. While they were carrying out these atrocities, David pleaded with the rebels to kill him. Instead they wrapped up David's ears in a letter warning people against joining the government forces. Looting The gruesome atrocities of the LRA are designed to instil fear in the civilians, but it is the frequency of the rebel attacks that is causing most alarm. On a daily basis the rebels are attacking to loot and abduct and the army is failing to protect the civilian population. "It's under control," is the usual refrain from the military. One military spokesman recently described the current wave of rebel attacks as "the last kicks of a dying horse." But for the civilians living through the nightmare, the horse is very much alive and kicking hard where it hurts. Abducted teenagers Tens of thousands are not prepared to take the risk that the rebels may strike their homes. So they either sleep in the bushes or at dusk they walk into urban centres to sleep in the grounds of hospitals or on shop verandas. There is a fear that thousands of children sleeping in one location may soon become too tempting a target for the LRA, which is made up almost entirely of abducted teenagers. Over 5,000 people seek refuge at St Joseph's Mission in Kitgum. Desperate Father Joseph Gerner, from Germany, heads the mission and has lived through the war in the north. He describes the current situation as desperate. "The rebels are all over. I would say practically the whole countryside is in their hands", he says. "The army may be on the roads and in the barracks but they don't really have much say in the bush because there the rebels are completely free." Two months ago there had been much optimism that peace talks with the LRA would bear some fruit. Mistrust However talks between the rebels and the presidential peace team never took place largely due to a total lack of trust between the two sides. The chairman of Gulu district, Lieutenant Colonel Walter Ochora, says that the rebels' past crimes are preventing them from sitting down to talk peace. "The problem of the LRA leadership is guilt. One commander, Vincent Otti, massacred over 300 people in his home area of Atiak", says Colonel Ochora. "Such a guy will not be free to live in Atiak," he tells me, adding that there are rebel commanders who want peace but not the overall leader, Joseph Kony. I met several teenagers who had just escaped from LRA captivity. One had been in Joseph Kony's group in southern Sudan. He told me that Kony tells the rebels that the government of President Yoweri Museveni will be overthrown within two years and has never spoken to them about finding a peaceful end to the conflict. Uniformed Arabs Alarmingly those escaping describe how supplies are being taken to Joseph Kony's rebels in southern Sudan. "In May this year I saw some Arabs wearing military uniforms bringing in supplies of military equipment and ammunition in trucks," one 14-year-old boy told me. This prompts the suggestion that contrary to agreement, the Khartoum government's links with the LRA have not been severed. However the Sudanese authorities vehemently deny any support for the rebels. Bandits Now President Museveni seems to have completely turned his back on the idea of talking peace. At the recent state of the nation address he declared, "We have given the bandits a chance of saving their wretched lives. Instead they continue to kill Ugandans. The killers of the people in the north will be killed." In Kitgum I watched two helicopter gunships fly out to an area the rebels had just attacked to the east of the town. President Museveni speaks of new military hardware being the key to success against the rebels. But the civilians hold a different view. They say that when the helicopters attack, it's often the innocent civilians who are killed - especially those just abducted and tied together by the rebels. Forgive This situation has left civilians clueless as to the way forward. In their eyes the military option has failed and will always fail and now that peace talks have flopped, few are optimistic. The common call now is for the international community to focus on northern Uganda. "Mr Bush and others should send their delegates here to see the situation on the ground," says David Ochola as he settles down for a night under the stars in Kitgum town. Despite the terror inflicted by the LRA, civilians are largely ready to forgive in order to see the back of the 17-year-old conflict. As Donald Lagonya studies for his A-level exams under a street light, he tells me: "If they come back home and stay together as brothers and sisters, even now I am ready to receive them." "Mistakes are human and the rebels should not think they will be hated." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosperity Posted June 2, 2004 Author Share Posted June 2, 2004 Thanks Hog Feaver, those are some good sources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Fever Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Originally posted by Tom [Giants fan] This board is better than a set of encyclopedias. While I'm not sure why you would want info like this and don't want to know, you can ask for almost anything and someone, somewhere on this board will give you what you need. We aim to please. Although the subject is not too nice. One last one from me. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3648451.stm Sudan 'atrocity' report withheld Human rights campaigners are outraged that a United Nations report alleging grave abuses in western Sudan is being withheld from a UN debate on the issue. The international body's Commission on Human Rights is due to discuss the crisis in Darfur, where up to a million people have been displaced. The debate has been delayed by behind-the-scenes negotiations with the European Union seeking a harsher resolution than African delegates want. The report, seen by the BBC, details claims of rape, looting and killing by militias with government help. Meanwhile the government has resumed talks with Darfur rebel groups in Chad. The report says the atrocities in Darfur "may constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity". Delays It was compiled by a UN team of experts who visited Chad to speak to refugees from the conflict. It is not being tabled at Thursday's discussions in Geneva, because the UN investigators have just been granted permission by Sudan to visit Darfur itself. Diplomats said the five-man team was in Nairobi awaiting clearance to continue its task in Darfur. The report has been delayed until they complete their investigation, but human rights groups are accusing Sudan of a ploy to prevent evidence of atrocities coming under discussion. Jemera Rone of Human Rights Watch told BBC News Online: "The Sudanese government is playing games with the international community, trying to delay the day of reckoning and prevent any systematic monitoring of its atrocities in Darfur." The investigators conclude in the report that the Sudanese government has not only allowed militia groups to commit atrocities with impunity, but has worked with them, using its air force to bomb villages and its own troops to drive out the population. The 53-member Commission on Human Rights is due to vote on a draft resolution by the European Union that refers to "the grave violation of human rights", including "the widespread recourse to rape and other forms of sexual violence, including against children, as a means of warfare." The proposal urges an end to the violence and the appointment of a special UN expert to monitor the situation. The BBC's Imogen Foulkes says the fact that the commission will not see the UN report is another blow to its credibility, after claims that it has bowed to political pressure from member states. Talks to bring an end to the conflict resumed in Chad's capital, Ndjamena, on Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Fever Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Originally posted by Liberty Thanks Hog Feaver, those are some good sources. No problem. Most of the article I found were dealing with the Sudan. Not a good place to be these days it would seem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bird_1972 Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 FYI, the Sudanese and Ugandans aren't Arabs. You still haven't answered why you want to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancalagon the Black Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Originally posted by bird_1972 FYI, the Sudanese and Ugandans aren't Arabs. You still haven't answered why you want to know. Many of the articles specifically mentioned Arab militias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosperity Posted June 2, 2004 Author Share Posted June 2, 2004 Originally posted by bird_1972 FYI, the Sudanese and Ugandans aren't Arabs. You still haven't answered why you want to know. No one asked why I wanted to know, but they helped me anyway which is very kind of them. FYI, I recently got in an argument with some people about Palestine/Israel conflict, and I wanted to point out that Arabs have committed worse atrocities to their minorities whenever they were in a position of power. And I wanted to point out his hipocracy when he did not feel outraged at the barbarism that is involved in the Sudan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Liberty, Since that's what you're arguing about, here's some additional info you might find of interest. In Syria, power is currently held by Alawites, a sect of Islam viewed as heretical to most Sunnis. Hafez al Assad, in order to consolidate power, slaughtered anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 (depending on whose stats you believe) Sunnis in the city of Hama in order to suppress any chance of a Sunni fundamentalist uprising. Saddam's situation in Iraq was analagous - he was a minority Sunni, and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Shia and Kurds to prevent any uprisings. I'll try and dig up stats someplace on the number of Palestinians killed by Egyptians and Jordanians between '48 and '67 when they were in control of the West Bank and Gaza. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosperity Posted June 3, 2004 Author Share Posted June 3, 2004 Thanks Riggo-Toni. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.