Sudan: May 30, 2004

Archives

NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) aid groups have tried to tag the ethnic cleansing in western Sudan (Darfur) as another genocide (as in Rwanda ten years ago). But the major aid donor nations aren't buying it. No one is willing to back the use of force to stop the raids by government supported Arab militias against black African villages. Aid is getting into the region, including truck traffic Libya permitted from it's ports to the Sudanese border. But the Sudanese border guards are apparently under orders to slow down the aid trucks as much as possible. 

The government apparently wants as many of the refugees to die as possible, and for as many as possible driven over the border into Chad. All of this is in retaliation for a rebellion by black African tribesmen in early 2003. The black Sudanese wanted more autonomy and a share of the growing oil wealth. They also wanted protection from the increasing encroachment of Arab tribes, who wanted the land of the black Sudanese farmers as pasture for herds of horses, camels and cattle.