Genocide in Darfur

1
Genocide in Darfur
Presented by UChicago STAND A Student Anti-
Genocide Coalition
2
Darfur, Sudan

• Sudan is the largest country by area in Africa
• Darfur is a region in western Sudan,
  approximately the size of Texas
• 6 million people used to live in Darfur

3
Genocide In Darfur

• 450,000 dead (from violence, famine, and disease)
• 2.5 million refugees and internally displaced
  persons
• 150,000 - 300,000 refugees in neighboring Chad

4
What is Genocide?

• United Nations Convention on the Prevention
  and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
• Genocide means any of the following acts
  committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in
  part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious
  group, as such
• (a) Killing members of the group
• (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to
  members of the group
• (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group
  conditions of life calculated to bring about its
  physical destruction in whole or in part
• (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births
  within the group
• (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group
  to another group.

5
History of Conflict in Sudan

• Sudans borders encompass many ethnic and
  religious groups
• North Arab, Muslim
• South African, Christian
• Darfur African, Muslim, Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa
  tribes
• Northern Sudan was constructed without ties
  to Southern Sudan, and the Darfur region wasnt
  annexed as a province of Sudan until 1916, almost
  50 years after the North and South were unified.

6
History of Conflict in Sudan

• 1956 Sudan gains independence from British rule
• Civil war between North and South from 1955-1972
  and again from 1983-2002
• South Sudanese not represented in Khartoum
  government
• While oil was discovered in Southern Sudan in the
  1970s, the Khartoum government demanded all of
  the oil revenues be funneled to the national
  government
• Peace agreement in 2003

7
Beginning of Darfur Conflict

• In 2003, two rebel groups from Darfur rise up
  against the Sudanese government
• Sudanese Liberation Movement (pictured)
• Justice and Equality Movement

The political aim of the rebel groups is to
compel to Sudanese government to address
underdevelopment and political marginalization of
the region .
8
Government Response

• Sudanese government arms Janjaweed militia,
  comprised mostly of members of Arab nomadic
  tribes who have been in conflict with settled
  farmers in Darfur. Janjaweed kill and expel
  Darfurians
• Janjaweed has been translated as devil on a
  horse in Arabic

Janjaweed in military fatigues in Geneina.
9
Government Response

• The government provides helicopters to bomb
  villages.

A helicopter strafing the village of Labado.
10
Janjaweed Tactics

• In addition to killing and expelling members
  of a village, the Janjaweed burn their food
  stores so that the survivors cannot return.

A government soldier burning the food storage of
the villagers in Marla.
11
Janjaweed Tactics

• After attacking and looting, Janjaweed begin to
  burn the village of Um Zeifa

12
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Refugees

• 2.5 million refugees and IDPs in Sudan and
  neighboring Chad.

Three generations of farmers, formerly
self-sufficient, now forced to live in a camp.
13
IDPs and Refugees

• Thousands die each month from the effects of
  inadequate food, water, health care, and shelter
  in a harsh desert environment. Pictured are
  graves outside and IDP camp.

14
Women in Refugee Camps
Women collecting wood in Kassab camp.
15
Rape as a Weapon

• Rape and gang-rape continually used as a weapon,
  with motivation of diluting the gene pool.
• They grabbed my donkey and my straw and
  said, Black girl, you are too dark. You are like
  a dog. We want to make a light baby, said
  Sawela Suliman, 22, showing slashes from where a
  whip had struck her thighs. They said, 'You get
  out of this area and leave the child when it's
  made.
• http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A160
  01-2004Jun29.html
• Rape is used to humiliate both men and women, as
  there exists a stigma against rape in Darfurian
  Muslim culture

16
Racial Motivation of the Genocide

• Reports state the African Arab Janjaweed
  shout racial slurs as they destroy the villages,
  claiming that they will kill all non-Arab
  Africans or Blacks. While both the Janjaweed
  and Darfurians have black skin, the Janjaweed
  persecute the Darfurians because they are
  non-Arabs.
• One refugee told New York Times columnist
  Nicholas Kristof that the Arabs want to get
  rid of anyone with black skin. . . . There are
  no blacks left in the area I fled.

17
International Response and Challenges

• In July 2004, Congress declared the crisis in
  Darfur to be a genocide. In September 2004, on
  behalf of the U.S. government, Secretary of State
  Colin Powell followed suit.
• First time a genocide declared as such while in
  progress
• In February 2005, the U.S. led the U.N. to pass
  the first resolution to send a peacekeeping
  mission to Darfur.
• September 2006 U.N. resolution authorizing the
  deployment of 17,000 peacekeepers with a Chapter
  VII mandate to protect.
• But only with the consent of the Sudanese
  government.
• Sudanese government adamantly refuses to consent,
  as they are sponsoring the genocide.

18
International Response and Challenges

• Currently 7,000 African Union troops on the
  ground. This is the size of the police force of
  Dallas in a region the size of Texas
• Insufficient mandate to actively protect
  civilians
• Under-funded
• Lacking training and technology
• Lacking manpower overstretched

19
International Response and Challenges

• China, Russia, Malaysia and Indias investments
  in Sudanese oil fund the Khartoum governments
  perpetuation of genocide.
• China and Russia are also on the United Nations
  security council

20
International Response and Challenges

• The US Congress has passed significant pieces of
  legislation on Darfur. These include funding for
  peacekeepers in Darfur and reauthorization of
  economic sanctions against Sudan.
• Connection with Sudan in war on terror

21
What can be done to stop the genocide?

• Divestment strategies (personal and
  institutional)
• See sudandivestment.org
• Lobby government representatives
• Call or write your member of Congress
• Donate to relief organizations and the AU
• Demand further media attention
• Plan or attend a rally or vigil
• Tell your friends and spread the word in your
  community
• Visit www.standnow.org for more information.
• Email alizashira_at_uchicago.edu to get involved.

22
Dont stand by. STAND UP.
standnow.org