Darfur's Deep-Founded Disaster

Protests In Europe Call Attention To Conflict, But No End In Sight For Humanitarian Disaster In Sudan

(CBS)  Darfur has gone on for so long that camps for displaced people are taking on an air of permanence, relief workers are barely holding their own, and there is no prospect of any of these people going home, no matter how much the world protests.

Aid officials call Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.

It is also one of the most complex, reports CBS News foreign correspondent Allen Pizzey.

The simple version is that ethnic Arabs are conducting genocide against black African tribes people across an area of Sudan almost the size of Texas. But, in fact, violence has become so endemic that the two million people who are now displaced and homeless have enemies on all sides.

Two or three militia groups have splintered into more than a dozen that range from the Janjaweed to tribal-based warlords and — political factions all fighting each other, adds Pizzey.

The sprawling, overcrowded and ever-growing camps serve as their recruiting grounds.

There is nothing the aid agencies, which feed two million people, can do about it.

And, as it that wasn't enough, a few days ago a United Nations assessment team had to flee for their lives from a bombing raid by the Sudanese air force.

"We have no communication with them," Chris Czerwinski, of the World Food Program, tells Pizzey.

The 7,000 African Union soldiers who are there as peacekeepers can barely protect themselves.

The latest plan calls for an additional 3,000 troops from the United Nations. That is supposed to be grow into a 21000-strong joint UN-African Union force, if the Sudanese agree and the international community gets its act together.

"Put your money where your mouth is, because they keep saying Darfur is huge," said Radia Achouri, a spokesperson for the U.N. mission in Sudan. "It's a problem. We need to do something about it. Well, prove it. Because the international community also has to prove that it is serious about Darfur."

If the world does not act, the camps will be the best part of the crisis because the longer politicians argue about what to do, the worse the security situation becomes, and the number of people that aid cannot reach grows larger by the day.

[me4prezz]

This is a matter of ethics - not politics. Not just the U.S. but the world needs to respond to this situation with diplomacy, not force. There is enough or rather there is too much war in the world - we need to employ our resources to make a peaceful stand in Darfur.

It is unconscionable for the first-world countries to have the ability to make a difference yet to ignore these refugees.
Posted by WORDSETC at 11:50 PM : Apr 29, 2007

I completely agree. This is about human decency and the right to live with clean water, shelter and without fear of being massacred for the sake of sport. This is ethics, human decency. This is the international and universal call to show that we are more than the commercial society we show ourselves to be to the world.

[me4prezz]

This may sound horrible and perhaps it is. The people of Darfur do not seem to go lacking for the energy to have relations with each other and continue to produce babies, so why can't they hunt or farm or do something? With the resources and the availibility of animals in Africa, there is no sense in these people going hungry. If they have the energy to make babies they should have the energy to fight for better lives.
Posted by mikealford3 at 09:08 PM : Apr 30, 2007

Because it is the people who are being slaughtered and are being led into camps. Remember the Jewish in concentration camps. While it may not be that extreme yet, it is certainly showing striking similarities. The Jewish were stripped of their rights as human beings, as are the people of Darfur. They can't farm or hunt because they are being hunted. They are not being treated as humans.

[mikealford3]

This may sound horrible and perhaps it is. The people of Darfur do not seem to go lacking for the energy to have relations with each other and continue to produce babies, so why can't they hunt or farm or do something? With the resources and the availibility of animals in Africa, there is no sense in these people going hungry. If they have the energy to make babies they should have the energy to fight for better lives.

[tbweb]

chuckabn wrote:

tbweb,
My cat and I will sleep well tonight, because I do what I can, where I am, with what I have to help others.
Posted by chuckabn at 10:43 AM : Apr 30, 2007

--chuckabn

Too bad you missed my point and took it out of context, the point was pet animals should not be fed before hungry humans. Of course its not practical to do that because of various logistical reasons and people do what they can where they can. But the point remains, most pet animals live and eat better than these people and the reasons and excuses why should be eliminated. That's it! No need to freak out and I accept your Post, I know the truth hurts sometimes, its okay! Your cat is safe, I'm not suggesting these people have it for lunch! LOL ;)

[akrk33nnn]

tbweb, stop being an apologist for the Beijing government that single-handedly created this crisis, (and the pet food crisis).

[godsmaverick]

to nikosk1:
Look up Operation Allied Force, and then insert foot in mouth.

Other than that, it took how many years to take down another recent dictator that was also guilty of sanctioning genocide on his own people? I am not defending the inaction on the first world countries, just saying don't all act so surprised. And enough with the sanctions please... they only people the hurt are those they are meant to help. If a government is sanctioning violence, it will not care if those same people become that much more impoverished.

[chuckabn]

tbweb,
No offense, but your comment about pet feeding may be the most ignorant and ridiculous statement that I have ever read online. PEOPLE (and environment) cause people to starve. Politics, hatred, ancient tribal rivalries, dictatorships, drought, famine, lack of education, and on and on..... That has ZERO to do with whether our cats and dogs live a good life. My cat and I will sleep well tonight, because I do what I can, where I am, with what I have to help others.

[chuckabn]

tbweb,
No offense, but your comment about pet feeding may be the most ignorant and ridiculous statement that I have ever read online. PEOPLE (and environment) cause people to starve. Politics, hatred, ancient tribal rivalries, dictatorships, drought, famine, lack of education, and on and on..... That has ZERO to do with whether our cats and dogs live a good life. My cat and I will sleep well tonight, because I do what I can, where I am, with what I have to help others.

[chuckabn]

tbweb,
No offense, but your comment about pet feeding may be the most ignorant and ridiculous statement that I have ever read online. PEOPLE (and environment) cause people to starve. Politics, hatred, ancient tribal rivalries, dictatorships, drought, famine, lack of education, and on and on..... That has ZERO to do with whether our cats and dogs live a good life. My cat and I will sleep well tonight, because I do what I can, where I am, with what I have to help others.

[chuckabn]

tbweb,
No offense, but your comment about pet feeding may be the most ignorant and ridiculous statement that I have ever read online. PEOPLE (and environment) cause people to starve. Politics, hatred, ancient tribal rivalries, dictatorships, drought, famine, lack of education, and on and on..... That has ZERO to do with whether our cats and dogs live a good life. My cat and I will sleep well tonight, because I do what I can, where I am, with what I have to help others.

[lestb35]

Where is the wealthy European Union? Where are the wealthy Japanese? Is George Bush the only one in the world to take definative stand.

[cat4evr]

The international media is doing a somewhat better job, of informing its audience, than the US media. If we, as global citizens, wait for a diplomatic solution, there won't be anybody to save in Darfur (the conflict has been going on for the past 3.5 years). Sudan's government should be made aware of the death and destruction it's causing to its own people. Economic sanctions and a strong UN presence are needed (with the firepower to stop the rapist and killers sanctioned by Al-Bashir's government). People in the US are too self-absorbed, so they have no time for their true moral values to come alive. Let's all contact our congressmen and senators and tell them we want them to put some teeth to the economic sanctions threats they have been making.

[tbweb]

There should a world wide rule that no pet animal can be fed until all humans are fed first! Some people have dogs and cats that eat and live better than this! Sad but true!

[wordsetc]

This is a matter of ethics - not politics. Not just the U.S. but the world needs to respond to this situation with diplomacy, not force. There is enough or rather there is too much war in the world - we need to employ our resources to make a peaceful stand in Darfur.

It is unconscionable for the first-world countries to have the ability to make a difference yet to ignore these refugees.

[zoltaric]

It's all Geroge Bush's fault. America should stay out of other countries business.

[mikealford3]

Why is it that the world has to wait for the U.S. to take the lead on every need. My goodness, China, Japan, India, Russia even; when is somebody other than America going to step up to the plate and do something.

Oh wait we can't help these people, we are too busy researching Mars and Pluto and this new planet that is 20 years away.

[payasyougo]

Darfur is a perfect example of what the UN is capable of accomplishing.

[me4prezz]

What do you say?

We need to get in there with the UN and do something to help these people and do it now.