Darfur, A Preventable Wasteland

Site of Reference: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/print/2005/03/14/Darfur_050314

The Canadian Broadcasting Channel is reporting, “The number of people who have died in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region could be as high as 350,000, according to a senior United Nations official.
Jan Egeland, the UN's humanitarian chief, says pneumonia, diarrhea and malnutrition has killed three to five times the official estimate of 70,000 put out last year by the World Health Organization.” Just as I said not to long ago we are witnessing another genocide like Rwanda in Darfur. Instead of sending troops to fulfill oil contracts and to keep Halliburton in busy work even though it is now reported that Halliburton may have cheated the U.S. taxpayers out of $100,000. Without natural exploitable resources the people of Darfur are serving a death sentence carried out by the avoidance by the United States.
The CDC also reports, “The Sudanese government has been accused of using Janjaweed Arab militia against Sudanese of African origin. The Janjaweed are accused of mass killings and rapes.
Egeland has also warned that women are still being systematically abused and raped. He met with senior officials in Khartoum, telling them that the situation was out of control in Darfur.” A recent visit by former Secretary of State Colin Powell proved to be just a feeble warning to the Sudanese government. The U.S. government knows of the Janjaweed, and they know what is going on in Darfur. The Civil Rights situation in the U.S. obviously does not apply to people of color around the world. President Bush won’t do anything to help the people of Darfur and sadly I believe the people of Darfur know it.
The CDC concludes its report; “The UN, United States and European Union are sending another mission to Darfur to assess the situation further.
Egeland is also urging international donors to contribute more funds for Darfur and the rest of Sudan, which is only now recovering from a different civil war, between the north and south. A peace agreement was signed last year to end the 21-year-old conflict.” Further assess the situation means nothing. The U.S. will only offer its serious help when the tragedy is over. When the bodies are all buried they will offer a few airlifts of aid. The European Union will only do what the U.S. will and nothing further. With almost 10,000 people dying each month Darfur our troops guarding peaceful Europe could be sent to help in this crisis but we prefer to use guard troops in a war zone.
- Chris Mansel