NEWS & LETTERS, August - September 2009
World in View
Abandoning Darfur?
by Gerry Emmett
It was surprising to hear recently that Amnesty International was going to cease to regard their work around Darfur, in Sudan, as one of their major campaigns. But Darfur, and violence in Sudan can't be allowed to slip from the world's consciousness
Over 2,700 villages have been destroyed in Darfur and 250,000 people have died from attacks by government troops and janjaweed militias. Another two million people have become refugees. The vast majority of these people are Black African Muslims. The Sudanese government is dominated by Arab Muslims. President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court. The violence in Darfur came after years of war against the Black Africans of southern Sudan in which over a million people died.
Recent statements of support for the Sudanese regime of Omar al-Bashir by Egyptian ruling party officials illustrate some of the dynamics of the region. The U.S.-allied Egyptian government is courting Sudan as an ally in its diplomatic battles with other countries of the Nile basin, which want to modify agreements granting Egypt use of most of the Nile's water. Because of agreements made when Britain was the colonial ruler, countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda have not been able to use the Nile waters.
There is of course opposition to the regime within Sudan itself. Sudanese Arab journalist and regime critic Lubna Hussein was arrested last month by the notorious Public Order Police for wearing trousers in a restaurant. She was taken into custody along with 14 other women, many of whom were flogged with ten lashes after admitting their "offense."
She has defied the religious judges and demanded her day in court. Hussein said: "Flogging is a terrible thing—very painful and a humiliation for the victim. But I am not afraid of being flogged. I will not back down. Now the eyes of the world are on this case I have a chance to draw attention to the plight of women in Sudan."
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