Spring Break
UA students doing their part to help with Darfur
Adam O'Hern
Issue date: 1/18/08 Section: News
While many know that there is a problem happening in Darfur - a region in western Sudan - some may not understand the specifics of the situation. But UA members of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, a student anti-genocide coalition, are trying to change that.
It is estimated that 400,000 people have already died in the conflict in Darfur and another 2.5 million have been displaced as refugees, according to the STAND Web site, www.standnow.org, and the situation is only getting worse, UA STAND President Lindsay Irion said.
"Tensions are increasing along the Sudan/Chad border, which is leading to deteriorating relations between the two countries," Irion said. "Many of the 2.5 million Darfurians who have been displaced by the genocide have fled to camps on either side of the Sudan and Chad border. The deterioration between the two governments puts those living in camps along the border at risk for falling victim to further violence."
The U.N. currently has 9,000 peacekeepers in the area with plans to add 26,000 more troops, but the Sudanese government is proving to be uncooperative, rendering the peacekeeping forces ineffective until at least mid-2008, Irion said.
"The peacekeeping force can only be successful with the cooperation of the Sudanese government," she said.
The causes for the situation are debatable, but many experts believe that the desertification of Sudan played a major role, according to a BBC press release. Because of the loss of suitable grazing grounds for herds, Arab Baggara tribes have been moving south into non-Arab lands, displacing and killing the African tribes that traditionally inhabit the region.
Although the government of Sudan publicly denies support of the Arab Baggara tribes, there have been several joint missions between the two forces against the African tribes, according to the press release.
The situation is made even more delicate with the U.N. refusing to acknowledge the situation in Darfur as genocide - instead classifying it as crimes against humanity, according to the U.N. Web site.
It is estimated that 400,000 people have already died in the conflict in Darfur and another 2.5 million have been displaced as refugees, according to the STAND Web site, www.standnow.org, and the situation is only getting worse, UA STAND President Lindsay Irion said.
"Tensions are increasing along the Sudan/Chad border, which is leading to deteriorating relations between the two countries," Irion said. "Many of the 2.5 million Darfurians who have been displaced by the genocide have fled to camps on either side of the Sudan and Chad border. The deterioration between the two governments puts those living in camps along the border at risk for falling victim to further violence."
The U.N. currently has 9,000 peacekeepers in the area with plans to add 26,000 more troops, but the Sudanese government is proving to be uncooperative, rendering the peacekeeping forces ineffective until at least mid-2008, Irion said.
"The peacekeeping force can only be successful with the cooperation of the Sudanese government," she said.
The causes for the situation are debatable, but many experts believe that the desertification of Sudan played a major role, according to a BBC press release. Because of the loss of suitable grazing grounds for herds, Arab Baggara tribes have been moving south into non-Arab lands, displacing and killing the African tribes that traditionally inhabit the region.
Although the government of Sudan publicly denies support of the Arab Baggara tribes, there have been several joint missions between the two forces against the African tribes, according to the press release.
The situation is made even more delicate with the U.N. refusing to acknowledge the situation in Darfur as genocide - instead classifying it as crimes against humanity, according to the U.N. Web site.
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Bobbi Buchanan
posted 1/21/08 @ 8:04 PM CST
The Darfur tragedy is not new. In 1985 I was on track to go to Darfur to work in a refugee camp. A few months before I was to go, the aid workers were expelled. (Continued…)
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