TRIGGER WARNING....
Sudan's Darfur crisis has exploded on many fronts -- violence, hunger, displacement and looting -- but United Nations peacekeepers say the biggest issue now affecting the region is the systematic rape of women and children.
Thousands of women -- as young as four -- caught in the middle of the struggle between rebel forces and government-backed militias have become victims of rape, they say, with some aid groups claiming it is being used as a weapon of ethnic cleansing.
"That is one of the biggest issues in Darfur -- the rapes, and crimes against women and children," says Michael Fryer, UNAMID's police commissioner, the United Nations peacekeeping force deployed to try to tackle the violence.
Relief workers say they are powerless to stop the attacks and they say if they do speak out they fear the Sudanese government will tell them to leave the country.
Humanitarian group Refugees International in a report last year said rape was "an integral part of the pattern of violence that the government of Sudan is inflicting upon the targeted ethnic groups in Darfur."
(Emphasis mine)
How can this be happening? How can human beings do this to each other? If anyone knows of groups that need funds or letter writing that needs to get done, send that info my way and I'll post it. We have do SOMETHING.
Thank heaven I was born in America. This kind of terrorism is unthinkable.
5 comments:
Isn't it weird we put hundreds of thousands of troops in Iraq for no reason while the UN force in Sudan is "under-equipped and undermanned" and unable to provide basic protection. I guess there's no oil to be made in Sudan... The US should really focus more on peacekeeping, like Canada.
We really have to do something. It was out of hand a long time ago. I think I gave $40 to a humanitarian group to aid Darfur some months back. It's really not nearly enough.
(anonymous2) I am glad I was born in the U.S.A. too! The U.S.A. is a safe and modern country because of oil. Given that oil is so important in maintaining the status of the U.S.A, we need to keep our troops in Iraq to maintain the little bit of stability there is in world oil market. a volitale world market would strain the U.S. economy. Getting involved in Sudan's affairs is simply not in our national interest. The world is a nasty place, but that doesn't mean we should or able to intervene in every injustice in the world.
Just a wee bit confused here --
"The U.S.A. is a safe and modern country because of oil."
I can think of some countries in the Middle East that have oil and are not safe or stable.
So I guess I am a little confused.
(anonymou2)Tobes, this should really go without explaining, but it is what a country does with oil that makes it safe. Oil is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. We put a lot of money generated by our economy into a superb military, police force, judicial courts and border patrol. We maintain law and order because of oil and excellent strategic planning in all aspects of our society. Many countries may have oil, but their corrupt govts misuse it and do not invest in tech which creates a great place like the US.
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