www.whyville.net Feb 20, 2005 Weekly Issue



lilash5
Guest Writer

What Do You Really Know About Darfur?

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It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, or maybe a gross dinner your mother is going to make you eat. Well, thinking these things might be perfectly normal for most of you because Darfur is one of the most unmentioned but important events happening in the news today.

What I mean is, all you ever see on the news is about terror in Iraq or maybe political news about the president, which is important, but people are getting so wrapped up in these things to the point that a 20-month-old war can be going on under our noses and we don't even take much notice of it.

Maybe now I have enough of your attention to explain what Darfur really is.

Darfur is a war in the Sudan, Africa, that has been in process for about 20 months now. It has killed more than 50,000 people and driven 1.4 million others from their homes. The war has been a cause of mass genocide, rape, burnings and murder.

International monitors has blamed the worst of Darfur on the government-allied militia. A militia is a part of a country's organized armed forces, only called upon in emergency. In this case, the militia, not as well trained as the regular army, is doing all kinds of awful, terrible things to the people of the country.

Like all wars, there are also rebels and bandits. Janjaweed is one of the largest and most feared groups in Sudan. They wear uniforms without insignia or distinguishing marks of authority or honor. They move through destroyed villages by camel, horses or pick-up trucks that are mounted with threatening machine guns. They refer to themselves not as Janjaweed but as "The Quick and the Horrible."

Sudan's official military has also been accused of attacking non-Arab villages.

So, no matter how heated your local election gets or how many terrorists have killed Americans in the Middle East and vice versa, realize that this war is not going to go unnoticed for much longer!

 

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