Central African Republic Essay

Darfur is an area in Sudan which lies in the western part of Sudan and boarders Libya, the Central African Republic and Chad. It has an approximate residence of six million people who are among the poorest people in Africa and only rely on nomadic herding and subsistence farming. Genocide in Darfur has taken place only ten years after the genocide in Rwanda which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. In Darfur, thousands of people have been killed and almost double the amount has been displaced from their home areas. Many of the people have become refugees in their homeland and are currently living in a network of internally displaced people (IDP) camps which completely rely on the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations help for their most basic needs for living. Others have fled to the neighboring countries such as Chad which has also been affected by the Darfur genocide. Others who are still in the villages are under constant threat of bombing, murder, rape, raids and torture and their only help for safety is from undermanned and underfunded African Union (AU) peacekeeping force whose personnel compared to the situation on the ground. However, this force which is referred to as the ‘AMIS’ force larks civilian protection and has no adequate means to stop the violence. Due to its anemic capacity, the only thing which it now does is to monitor and give reports on ceasefire violations. The current crisis which are experienced in Darfur are as a result of neglect of people by the government and the entire world, cases of drought which has persisted for many years, oppression of the residents and the poor by the government and the affluent people and conflicts between the people and tribes in the northern in Sudan. The Sudanese Liberation Army/ Movement (SLAM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are the two main rebel groups in Sudan. These groups represent the agrarian farmers who most of them are non Arabs African Muslims from different tribes. They mounted a challenge and pressure to the Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir whose response was very brutal. The government increased arms and support to the militias and the local tribes known as the Janjaweed for the main purpose of seeking to defeat the rebel movement. Entire villages have been wiped, food and water supplies have been destroyed and livestock killed by the government supported groups. No part of the entire Darfur civilian population has not experienced the murder, rapes and torture by the government armed groups. The government military has painted their attack aircrafts white, the same color which the United Nations humanitarian aircraft which a violation of the international humanitarian law. This move by the government is to confuse the villagers so that when they approach the villages, the people will confuse them for the United Nations aircraft which have come for their help but in the real sense their mission is to kill and bomb them. The current humanitarian situation on the ground in Darfur is constantly deteriorating to worrying levels. There has been increased attacks which has increased the number of IDPs and refugees. Visitors of the camps who includes the Save Darfur Coalition have reported worrying and dire conditions the people undergo and its a pity they have survived under the conditions for such a long time and there seems to be no hope of remarkable improvement. The only help which seems to be forth coming is from the United Nations and the non-governmental humanitarian relief agencies who have introduced some refugee camps and provided several thousands of of aid workers who despite the relief agencies support work under logistical and difficult conditions due to constant harassment the Sudanese government and the red tape. These humanitarian operations and their workers are increasingly being targeted by the fragmenting rebel movement elements and the government. Their vehicles are being robbed and hijacked constantly, the aid workers are intimidated and assaulted when performing their duties and their offices are being looted and broken into making their work more harder. In the wake of 2007, reports from the United Nations showed that more that 80,000 Darfurians joined the already over populated IDP camps due to the continuing violence. The humanitarian bodies and United Nations as a result of the government harassments and the worsening security problems have given warning of their growing inability to support and sustain their operations. They say that any interruption of the flow of the humanitarian aid is likely to cause more deaths than the ones already experienced and per month death rates could raise up to 100,000 in case the humanitarian support system collapses. Civilians in Darfur have suffered deliberate and indiscriminate attacks violating their human rights such as rapes, pillage and torture. The government of Sudan has continued to protect the people accused of violation of human rights. In the cases of Ahmad Harum and Ali Kushayb who were arrested and charged with 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity such as murder, prosecutions, torture, rape and forcible displacements in 2003 and 2004, the government has refused to hand over the two suspects but instead they have given one of them a prominent post in the public positions and the other was promoted to the state as the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs. This responsibility was towards the well being of the very victims of the crimes he was alleged to have committed and is currently the key liaison to the United Nations-African Union peace keeping force who are in charge of the victims protection. He was also appointed in late 2007 to a committee in charge of hearing complaints on human rights abuse in Sudan and Ali Kushayb was released from the Sudanese in October 2007 for lack of evidence. (Draklich &Wagner p167). Sexual violence against women and the girl child have been featured mostly in the government and militia attacks with the main aim of terrorizing the population and gain control over them and their displacement mission. The worrying issue is that even after the displacement, the militia groups have set their camps near the IDP camps and therefore continued to sexually harass the women. (Human Rights Watch, p 5-7) Rape and many forms of sexual violence have remained endemic and have threatened the safety of women and girl children reflecting the current dynamics of law and order breakdown. Women and girls are not ready to admit their sexual abuse by the militia for fear of social stigmatization and have no trust that the government will take any action. Most of the authorities refuse to acknowledge the problem which is experienced by women and instead, they accuse the victims of giving false information to the international social aid workers of their fate for the purpose of political gains. Some of the local Sudanese authorities have even gone a step ahead to stifle the humanitarian agencies who are working on the issue and due to this, agencies which are running women’s health clinics in the largest IDP camps are constantly subjected to harassment and obstruction by government officials and decline to publicize their duties. As the conflicts increases, so do the sexual perpetrators who now include the military, militia, rebels, police and criminal gangs who attack civilians in IDPs, towns and rural areas near the military bases and areas under rebel control. On February 2008, the government groups performed ground and air attacks in the towns of Sirba, Silea and Abu Suruj. This led to more than 1000 deaths, property destruction, massive displacement and several cases of women and girls rape cases and sexual assaults by the government officials. In 2006, sexual violences cases were reported during the government and militia attacks in Abu Sakin regions where women and girls were abducted, brutally raped and forced to walk back to the camps while naked and to date, the military has declined to give information of the suspects. Other rape cases reported by the human rights officers during government attacks were in Deribat, Kabkabiya, Zamzam IDP camp, Kalma IDP camp in South Darfur among others. (Human Rights Council , p. 26-30).