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March 22, 2006
Darfur Attacks Overwhelm Peace Force, U.N. Reports
By WARREN HOGE
UNITED NATIONS, March 21 — The United Nations special envoy to Sudan said Tuesday that violence was rising in Darfur and that lack of progress in the south was jeopardizing a peace agreement that ended a separate conflict there.
The official, Jan Pronk, told the Security Council that killings, rapes and armed attacks on Darfur villagers were committed by armed gangs secure in the knowledge that no one would stop or punish them.
"In South Darfur, militia continue to cleanse village after village," he said. "The government has not disarmed them. On the contrary, African Union commanders on the ground openly speak about continued support to militia by forces allied to the government."
In what the United Nations calls the greatest humanitarian crisis and the Bush administration has labeled genocide, more than 200,000 people in Darfur have been killed and up to 2 million black villagers driven from their homes by Arab militias.
Mr. Pronk called on the international community to augment and assist the 7,000 African Union troops now in Sudan and not wait until the force is reorganized later this year as a United Nations force.
The African Union agreed this month to turn its peacekeeping mission in Darfur over to the United Nations in the fall.
John R. Bolton, the American ambassador, told reporters that the United States would soon be circulating a Security Council resolution to help provide a smooth transition and broaden the mission.
Sudan has said it will not accept United Nations troops until a Darfur peace agreement is struck in talks now going on in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
In the meantime, Mr. Pronk said, the African Union force needs help with items like helicopters and technology that only wealthier nations can supply. "You need technology to see where military groups are assembling themselves in order to attack villages," he said.
Mr. Pronk said people in Sudan were confused about the United Nations and were subjected to propaganda campaigns claiming that the organization would challenge the nation's sovereignty.
"Groups on the ground put pressure on the government to resist what they call 'recolonization,' " he said. "In 2006 it's a hot topic because it is 50 years ago that Sudan became an independent country. People expressed genuine fear of the Iraq scenario being repeated in Sudan."
He said he sought to reassure them that the United Nations was acting in their interest. "I tell them it is Sudan plus 200 other countries," he said, "not 200 other countries against Sudan."
Mr. Pronk urged the Council not to borrow troops for Darfur from the existing peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan, where a peace agreement 14 months ago ended 20 years of civil war. "Cannibalization of any forces from southern Sudan would be tantamount to sending the watchman home in the afternoon," he said.
Security was deteriorating in the South, he said, and reconstruction and development were lagging dangerously. "If not addressed," he said, "people will ask what difference peace has made for them."

from the New York Times on March 22, 2006


This is happening right now.

why haven't I cared more about this?

I don't believe it's hopeless and I do believe my personal concern for a situation of this magnitude is important. If I can do nothing else for this situation in my life time, I hope I can spark conversation about it.

can we please talk about this? Can we please challenge each other to at least recognize that it is happening? Ironically, I don't mean so much on blogger (although i suppose it can't hurt), I'm talking about in every day life. I mean, I'm more than willing to engage in discussions over the war on terror and the digital revolution. How is Africa any different?

It's real, it's happening, and my actions are showing that I could care less.

"I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did—or did not to—to put the fire out in Africa. History, like God, is watching what we do."
-Bono

thoughts? feel free to post them on here or anywhere else, but maybe it'd be good to bring it up in circles that don't meet on the internet. I'll try to do the same.

cya guys. enjoy the clear sky and amazing sunshine today :)
-dave