Daily Darfur: Clashes and Causes for Pessimism

by Michelle . · 2008-12-13 18:46:00 UTC
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The White House released a Fact Sheet on how the US is "Leading the Global Response to the Crisis in Darfur." The assistance is certainly impressive, but it's hard to believe that the US is "committed to ending the genocide in Darfur," when said genocide is fast approaching its sixth year.

Moving rapidly on:

Clashes in Darfur killed 75 people on Friday. Details on who's-fighting-who-and-why seem slightly murky. Violence also erupted, yet again, in the flashpoint town of Abyei in South Sudan, a key point of dispute unresolved by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The Genocide Intervention Network reported more bad news from Darfur: Government military aircraft circling villages in North Darfur, scaring the bejeezus out of residents, and the gang rape of a woman by seven Janjaweed militiamen. Check out GI-Net's blog for details.

Of interest:

Human Rights First briefed the UN Security Council's Sudan Sanctions Committee on violations of the arms embargo.

UNSG Ban Ki-Moon recommended sending an additional 4.900 UN peacekeeping troops and civilian police to Chad, to replace a European force set to withdraw next year. Given the UN's track record for deploying peacekeepers, I'm wondering if we can talk the Europeans into staying...

[Photo from AFP: Displaced Sudanese people who returned to Abyei stand outside tents and a hut.]

Michelle . has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns.
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