Damanga Newsroom

Press & Sun Bulletin - Binghamton, NY

Guest Viewpoint: Situation in Darfur is Complex

April 26, 2007

"I was born in a remote village. I had no chance to go to school. We had no lights or running water or gas to cook," Daowd Salih said, describing his childhood in the Massaleit tribe in Darfur, a western region of Sudan about the size of Texas. Speaking in thickly-accented English, he recounted his move to southern Sudan (where his education was cut short by the civil war) and his work with the Red Cross in Africa.

Salih was attending school in Egypt in 1995 when he heard reports of pro-Arab Janjaweed militias carrying out ethnic cleansing in western Sudan. Joining with other students from Darfur, he formed the Representatives of the Massaleit Community in Exile (RCME) to bring these atrocities to the attention of the world. When his life was threatened by his advocacy work, he fled to the United States. For the past six years he's continued his work here, co-founding the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of over 170 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations working to halt the violence in Darfur.

Salih was at Binghamton University on March 29 to participate in a panel discussion on "The Darfur Crisis: Morality, Policy and Reality." The panel, which included Professor Ali Mazrui, the Rev. Douglas Taylor and BU graduate student Gloria Lomodong (who fled Sudan in 1989) exposed the complexity of the conflict in Darfur.

Salih said the conflict grew out of the civil war in Sudan (1983-2005). Arab militias backed by the Sudanese government have attacked people of three African tribes: the Fur, Zaghawa and Massaleit. Civilians have been raped and killed and their villages burned to the ground.

Mazrui traced the roots of the conflict to declining rainfall and less pasture for the livestock of the nomadic Janjaweed, bringing them into conflict with the African tribes that are cultivators. Ms. Lomodong stated that religious differences also fuel the conflict. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir enforced Shari'a law after he seized power in 1989, using strict Islamic guidelines to govern Sudan. The African tribes practicing traditional African religions fear the oppressive, fundamentalist government of Sudan.

Mazrui believes it's difficult to label one side as "victim" and the other as "perpetrator." Both the Sudanese government (and the Janjaweed militias it supports) and the rebel groups — the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army — are guilty of atrocities. Perhaps the real victims are the estimated 400,000 people killed and the approximately two million civilians (mostly members of the three African tribes) displaced by the destruction of their villages. These refugees are now completely dependent on humanitarian aid for their survival.

While the United States has characterized this conflict as genocide, the rest of the world community, including the United Nations, has not. Whether this conflict is labeled ethnic cleansing or genocide, though, one thing is clear: people are dying either directly from attacks or indirectly from malnutrition and disease in the refugee camps.

What can we do? The organizers of the panel provided a list, "Top 10 Ways to Take Action to Stop Genocide in Darfur" from the Africa Action website, www.africaaction.org. I would like to offer my own list:

1. Pray.

2. Divest. Go online to www. sudandivestment.org for information.

3. Advocate. Contact your representative (www.house.gov or (202) 224-3121) and senators (www.senate.gov or (202) 224-3121) to urge them to take action to stop the conflict.

4. Donate. For a listing of humanitarian agencies working in Darfur, visit www.alertnet.org/thefacts/ reliefresources/108325857918.htm

Jean Jenkins is a Binghamton resident.