Daily Darfur: Civilians Caught in the Middle

by Michelle . · 2008-10-09 03:48:00 UTC
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The Christian Science Monitor gives an excellent example of Khartoum's two-faced ways: Simultaneously cajoling and threatening the international community to suspend the ICC indictment proceedings against President al-Bashir while continuing to bomb villages in Darfur:

"The government said it was only looking for rebels. It said it didn't want to harm the people," says villager Abdullah Isshac, who spent one week hiding in the countryside after a government attack on the village of Khazan Tungur. "But the rebels are out in the mountains, not in the village."

Also in the news:

  • UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said today that UNAMID should reach two-thirds of its full deployment by the end of the year, and 85% by March. The joint-African Union and UN peacekeeping force in Darfur currently only consists of 10,000 of the expected 26,000 troops.
  • The New Hampshire Judicial Retirement Plan is fighting Sudan divestment legislation in court, arguing that "the law conflicts with the board's constitutional fiduciary duty to make investments exclusively to provide benefits for its members." Perhaps they should consider that investing with total disregard for your money's support for genocide conflicts with your moral and ethical duty to be a decent human being.
  • A profile of MAP International makes a point worthy of consideration: Violence in Darfur decreases (but doesn't disappear) during the rainy season, and during Ramadan. Both ended in September. What does October have in store?
Michelle . has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns.
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