Term Paper on "World Problem"

Term Paper 10 pages (3486 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Darfur Refugees

The conflict in Darfur has been ongoing for some time. It is located in the Darfur region, which is in the western Sudan, and the problems have been mainly between those that are non-Arab and the Janjaweed, which are a militia group that come from the tribes of local Arabs (Morrison, 2006). Because of this, many refugees are leaving Darfur and moving to other places to attempt to escape the fighting. This is a serious world problem, and it is important here to understand not only the refugees, but the conflict that has made them flee, as well. The government of Sudan has denied publicly that they are supporting the Janjaweed, but they have also provided assistance and arms to this group, and also participated in some joint attacks since the conflict began in February of 2003 (Darfur, 2006).

Since the conflict began, it has been estimated that approximately 400,000 people have been killed in that region, but estimates have ranged from just 50,000 in 2004 to 450,000 in April of this year (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006). The 400,000 figure is the average number believed killed, and has been stated by the Coalition for International Justice. In the mass media, the conflict has been said to be 'genocide' and/or an 'ethnic cleansing.' The United States Congress, as well as the Bush Administration have agreed that it is genocide, but the United Nations has not gone as far as to make that statement.

As for the refugees that are leaving Darfur, the largest majority of them are Africans that are non-Arab, and they are running from the attacks of the Janjaweed Arabs. However, there have also been perpetrators of these attacks that are non-Arab as well as victims that are proclaimed Arabs. The individuals on both sides of the fighting are generally black, and the distinction that is seen in the news media between those that are Arab and those that are non-Arab in disputed by a great many people, as well as the Sudanese government. It is believed by these disputants that the Western world and the Western media do not really understand the difference, and therefore get the distinctions wrong quite often. The labeling of Arabs and non-Arabs has also been criticized due to the fact that it makes the conflict appear to be purely racial in motivation, and experts say that there are other important reasons for the conflict, such as the competition that is seen between the nomadic cattle-herders and the farmers, because they are both fighting for resources that are very scarce in the region (UN, 2006).

The general consensus throughout the international community appears to be that the targets of the violence in Darfur have been ethnic groups, and therefore these come under the heading of crimes against humanity. However, the idea that genocide has actually occurred is still being hotly debated. An article that was seen on May 7th from the BBC indicated that "a UN investigation team sent to Sudan said that while war crimes had been committed, there had been no intent to commit genocide" (Darfur, 2006). Despite this, however, there were several organizations that were not governmental that decided genocide was the correct term, and the government of the United States also decided that the word was appropriate for what was taking place in the country of Darfur. However, none of the international governing bodies have decided that genocide is an appropriate term for what is taking place there.

How many people have actually died in Darfur since the conflict began is also a point of contention, and these numbers have been very difficult to get, because the government in Sudan does not like journalists. That government generally censors and intimidates any journalists that come to the country in an attempt to cover the conflict, get answers, and see what it actually taking place where the refugees are concerned (de Wall, 2005). The World Health Organization stated in September of 2004 that it believed there had been an estimated 50,000 deaths since the conflict began 18 months previously. Most of these deaths had taken place not from fighting, but simply from starvation. In October of 2004, the same organization (WHO) updated their estimate to say that, between March and October of 2004, it believed that there had been 70,000 deaths from both disease and starvation (Refugee, 2004). There was much criticism of these estimates, however, because they did not figure in the numbers from violent deaths, and because they were over such a very short period of time. A report from the British Parliament that is more recent set the number of deaths at 300,000, and others have judged that it is much higher (Flint & de Wall, 2006).

In March of 2005, the Emergency Relief Coordinator for the United Nations stated that there were an estimated 10,000 people dying each and every month in Darfur, and that these deaths did not take into account the death toll from the ethnic violence that was taking place there (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006). It was also estimated at that time that approximately 2 million people had been forced from their homes, and that they generally sought refuge in camps set up within the major towns of Darfur (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006). Another 200,000 people that had been forced from their homes had decided to leave Darfur completely, and had fled to the neighboring country of Chad (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006).

A report that came out in April of 2005 from the Coalition for International Justice contained some of the most significant and comprehensive analysis of the statistics that were collected, and it indicated that there had been a total of 400,000 deaths in the Darfur region since the beginning of the conflict (de Wall, 2005). Since this report was so comprehensive, most humanitarian and human rights groups are using this figure now. However, in April of this year, Dr. Eric Reeves argued that "extant data, in aggregate, strongly suggest that total excess mortality in Darfur, over the course of more than three years of deadly conflict, now significantly exceeds 450,000," but there has yet to be any kind of report that independently verifies this number (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006).

In order to understand why this conflict is so significant and what the refugees are really running from, it is also necessary to understand how the conflict was started. There are two distinct and separate groups within the population of Darfur. These are the non-Arab blacks such as the Masalit, Zaghawas, and Fur tribes, and the Arab tribes that are called Baggarra (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006). These tribes are also black based on the standards of non-African individuals. These tribes settled the region beginning in the 13th century, and both groups are Muslims. Throughout history, the relationship between the two groups has been very strained, and the differences in economic needs between the groups has also led to many different clashes. Some groups are involved in agriculture, and other groups are involved with herding (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006). These herders are generally nomadic, and wander to various places within the region. Many of the disputes and problems that have appeared between the two groups in the past have come from surface water access and land access.

Since 1958, Sudan has gone through a series of military dictatorships, and when they first gained their independence in 1956 the government became largely Arab, which caused difficulties for those that were not Arabs (Darfur, 2006). There was a civil war in 1955 which did not end until 1972, and another civil war in 1983 which continued until 2005 (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006). In 2003, while the second civil war was still ongoing, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement, both of which were rebel groups, accused their government of the oppression of those that were non-Arabs in favor of those that were Arabs (Morrison, 2006). There were many individuals jailed, although they generally denied plotting coups or aggravating an already tense situation. In December of 2004, the government dropped the charges against these individuals (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006).

As for the American officials and their opinions as to the conflict being genocide, this began with then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, who traveled in 2004 with the Sudanese to the refugee camps in Darfur (UN, 2006). The Bush Administration, however, are not the only ones that stated that the Darfur conflict was genocide. Senator John Kerry and others shared that opinion. In July of 2004, the United States Congress made it official by stating that the Sudanese government and the militias that they were using by proxy were definitely committing genocide. There has been speculation, because of these claims, that there is some kind of international involvement, such as the peace keeping forces from the United Nations being sent to Darfur, and the possible involvement of the International Police (Lacey & Polgreen, 2006).

The military forces of the African Union that… READ MORE

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