In Focus

Darfur, Sudan: Humanitarian Crisis or Genocide?

by Claudio Simpkins

As the Arab Janjawid armed militias continue to destroy village after village

in Darfur, a region of western Sudan, thousands of internally displaced

persons (IDPs) congregate in camps away from the violence. The IDPs, who

have either had their villages burned down or fear that their villages will

be next have fled ahead of the militias, as local and governmental

authorities pressure them to return home. With a severe man-made famine

looming, humanitarian organizations in the area and the U.N. are saying that

they are desperately in need of relief assistance. U.N. Secretary General

Kofi Annan will soon make a trip to the region in order to lobby the Sudanese

government for freer access throughout the region. U.S. Secretary of State

Colin Powell has said that the U.S. government is also looking into whether

the massive killings constitute “genocide.” Is the Sudanese government doing

all that it can to prevent the killings? What will it take for the

international community to come together and quickly resolve this dangerously

escalating situation?

News and Special Reports:

A conversation with a volunteer worker on the ground in Darfur, discussing

the camps and the stories of the displaced

Kofi Annan on the efforts of the United Nations, and the prospects for peace

in southern Sudan with conflict in Darfur continuing.

Organizations on the ground call for more assistance, leaders visit and

evaluate the situation.

News of the recent Security Council resolution, the three-month advance team,

and prospects for peace in Sudan.

Africa Action Launches Petition to Stop Genocide in Sudan.

South Africa: 10 Years of Democracy

A decade after the fall of the apartheid system in South Africa, voters this week will go to the polls in the third all race elections since 1994. Most predict that the African National Congress (ANC), once led by Nelson Mandela and now under the reigns of Thabo Mbeki, will win significant concessions in both parliament and in the presidential election scheduled for April 14th. The violence that threatened similar elections in the past, thankfully, is not expected this week. Ten years on, though, South Africa faces a number of challenges, both new and old, including the ravaging effects of AIDS/HIV, high unemployment, and violent crime. How has South Africa handled such problems in the past, and what lies ahead for the young nation following this week's elections?

News and Special Reports:

Mail and Guardian Special Report: Elections 2004

BBC News In Depth - South Africa: A Decade of Democracy

AllAfrica.com special section on South Africa

[04/08/04] Rwanda Remembered

This week marks the 10-year anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, in which 800,000 Rwandans were murdered, many by crude machetes and other gruesome methods, by their fellow countrymen. A worldwide moment of silence will be observed at noon, across all time zones.

Below are links to some resources for reflection:

Western Leaders Absent as Rwanda Recalls Genocide

Reuters

The Genocide Next Door

NYT

The Remember Rwanda, but Take Action in Sudan

NYT

Clinton: Learn From Rwanda

Washington Post

10 Years After Rwanda Genocide, Annan Unveils Plan to Stop Future Massacres

All Africa

Books

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda

by Philip Gourevitch

A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

by Samantha Power

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda

by Romeo Dallaire

Video

The Triumph of Evil

Frontline

Sudan's Civil War

For over two decades, the East African nation of Sudan has been engulfed in an ongoing struggle for resolve between the Arab-dominated Islamic government and black Christians, animists and Muslims who reside mostly in the southern and western regions of the country. Escalated violence based on religious differences and access to the nation's scarce resources has occurred primarily in the western provenance Dafur, where two rebel groups—the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)—continue to fight the government supported Arab militias known as janjaweed. The United Nations says 110,000 men, women and children have fled to Chad from this region to escape the government's attacks against the growing rebel revolt there. Leaders of neighboring African countries and the international community as a whole have been criticized extensively for their unwillingness to recognize seriously what is happening in this war-torn nation. New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof writes “Sudan's (the government's) behavior easily meets the definition of genocide in Article 2 of the 1948 convention against genocide. That convention not only authorizes but also obligates that nations ratifying it—including the US—to stand up to genocide.” Will the international community continue to keep this conflict on the peripheral?

News and Special Reports:

Human Rights Watch Report: 'Dafur in Flames'

'UN Aid mission to visit Sudan'

Stokholm International Forum:'Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities'-summary report

News From Africa

[11/24/03] South Africa Approves AIDS Coverage

The South African government announced approval of the Operational Plan for Comprehensive Treatment and Care for HIV and AIDS, which hopes to provide "at least one [antiretroviral] service point in every health district across the country" within one year, and "within five years, one service point in every local municipality." The plan has received support from many activist groups who have long-complained that the South African administration has failed to take the threat of HIV/AIDS seriously enough. The government also plans to spend more than $1.73 billion

over the next three years to battle AIDS, according to the NY Times.

[11/24/03] African Commonwealth Nations Divided Over Zimbabwe

African leaders remain divided over the status of Zimbabwe preceding an upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Abuja, Nigeria. Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth in 2002 as a result of what many said were unfair presidential elections and a radical land reform program that has thrown the country in chaos and ecnomic woe.

[11.24.03] UN Documents Congo Plunder

A UN panel investigating the plunder of mineral resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has named 125 companies and individuals who stand accused of having contributed to the DRC conflict. This PDF of the report comes courtesy of AllAfrica.com.

[11.24.03] Restoring Ivory Coast

This week, Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and French Foreign Minister Laurent de Villepin will meet in an effort to chart out the future of the recently unstable nation. To find out more about the conflict in Ivory Coast, visit this page from GlobalSecurity.org.

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