The Current Situation in Sudan

The situation in Darfur became open to the world officially as of 2003, though there had been heavy tensions as well as civil wars between the Sudanese government and its rebel groups before, including the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement and Army. The two groups attacked some of the government's military buildings, which opened the crisis to the world, though no one had a clue how terrible it was, and would become. The United States quickly started peace agreements between the two parts of the country- the southern part of Sudan, which consisted of the rebel groups, and the northern, more government-supported area of Sudan. The treaty agreed to give the rebels from the south oil and government representation, but the conflict was far from over; for the past twenty years, the Sudanese government has backed militias to wage attacks against the numerous tribes and civilians who were considered "disloyal" to the Sudanese government. These armies, or "Janjaweed" militias, have committed any offense imaginable, including massive rape, looting, huge killings that range from on-foot attacks on refugee camps to flying over a village and shooting nails at anything and everything that they see. Rape has become now a signature of the militias; women are preyed on every day: as they collect water, or go out to see the morning- literally any time at any place. Women are sent out in the hopes of not getting killed, "only" raped, though almost all the women who were raped have been beaten or killed. And yet, these young women who are raped are often ostracized by their families and communities for something they had no say in, and many are forced to bear the children of the monsters that did that to them. Unfortunately, though, the conflict is further complicated by the continuance of the struggle between the Sudanese government and the groups mentioned before, as well as instability of Darfur communities overall.

Now, it is even worse: 3.5 million people are hungry every day, without proper nourishment or the medicine needed to help those with sickness as a result of that hunger, 2.5 million have lost their homes because of the Janjaweed attacks, and 400,000 have died so far because of the slaughtering done by the Sudanese government. The fact that Darfur is economically unstable, and has possible and probable famines and droughts coming its way only increases the confusion around the situation. Amazingly, no great action has taken place on the part of the major countries like the U.S. and the U.K., except for some words and speeches about how terrible the situation is, which are followed by nothing, as in nothing done about it! Though the first steps have been taken by having the world recognize the genocide, progress is still needed to actually do something about it. Individual organizations and people like George Clooney have made great efforts to try and improve the situation, though the Janjaweed often interfere with their efforts as well.

Last updated: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 11:13 AM

Created: Monday, May 1, 2006 11:10

By Ariel L. , Percy Julian Middle School