I am extremely bothered by the situation in Darfur. The United Nations seems to simply place hope above reality to the situation in Darfur. Rebel Soldiers from the Revolutionary United Front have been kidnapping civilans- men, women, and children alike- and forcing them to work in the diamond mines. This supposedly only went on from 1991-2002, as is portrayed in the film Blood Diamonds, but it is obvious that this is still happening.
Darfur is in dire trouble, and it seems like the United Nations is doing nothing to stop this genocide. But, I must also add, it is only the United States government that has declared the situation as a genocide, NOT the United Nations itself. This is a gross injustice that MUST be stopped!
The current crisis in Darfur began in 2003. After decades of neglect, drought, oppression and small-scale conflicts in Darfur, two rebel groups - the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - mounted a challenge to Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir. These groups represent agrarian farmers who are mostly non-Arab black African Muslims from a number of different tribes. President al-Bashir's response was brutal. In seeking to defeat the rebel movements, the Government of Sudan increased arms and support to local tribal and other militias, which have come to be known as the Janjaweed. Their members are composed mostly of Arab black African Muslims who herd cattle, camels, and other livestock. They have wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies, and systematically murdered, tortured, and raped hundreds of thousands of Darfurians. These attacks occur with the direct support of the Government of Sudan's armed forces.
No portion of Darfur's civilian population has been spared violence, murder, rape and torture. As one illustration of how Khartoum has waged its war, the Sudanese military paints many of its attack aircraft white - the same color as UN humanitarian aircraft - a violation of international humanitarian law. When a plane approaches, villagers do not know whether it is on a mission to help them, or to bomb them. Often, it has been the latter.
So let me finish with this simple question. If the Sudanese militart is violation an international humanitartian law, why is the United Nations doing nothing to stop this?
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Actually, the UN agreed to send in peacekeeping troops a week or so ago. In a few more weeks, I think you'll notice that inaction is a safer method.
--Mike
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I think that at this point SOMEONE has to get involved. Inaction will just keep everything going. At least with action there is a chance that things can possibly get better. I'm not saything that there will be a definate change, but I am hoping that things will turn around.
Then there's also the greater chance (as history has shown us) that Sudan will turn into another Iraq or Korea or Vietnam or Cambodia or Afghanistan.
--Mike
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Okay, with that I can agree to a small degree. So what, may I ask, do you think can be done to stop this? I personally think that you can't stop something without a risk being taken. Should we just stand by and let people die?
What else can be done without starting another war? People have to start realizing that the reason that there is war is because foreign governments get far too involved in the domestic affairs of other nations.
--Mike
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So you just suggest we sit around twiddling our thumbs thinking "It's OK that people are dying over there. Let's not do anything to try to help them." I can't agree to that!!
There are people dying over here. There are people dying everywhere. People die; it's what they do.
--Mike
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Okay, you're right! People are dying everywhere. But it's not okay for people to kill other people. Believe me, I'm just as concerned about the murdering going on in the USA, and I am part of multiple organizations to help that situation as well. Unfortunately, I am only perfecting a paper to be presented to the UN next fall on the situation in the United States, and did not feel it necessary to bore the online viewers of a blog with twelve pages. I am, though, intending to cut short my paper on the United States' situation and post some of it on this website, but my belief for the problem in Darfur was short enough that I could care to it without having to revise a paper. But back on topic. I can see your point. But I still think that murder is wrong, no matter where it is.
Which leads me to my next point: Why is murder wrong? Because it's illegal?
--Mike
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Murder is ETHICALLY wrong not just illegal!! Do you think it is alright to take another innocent human being's life over greed for money and power???????
Well, why not? What argument can you make that isn't based on some unsupported maxim or appeal to pity?
--Mike
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Appeal to pity or not, murder is still wrong. Let me put you into a hypothetical situation. Your family is over there. You have just gotten married. Your new wife is taken away to the mines and forced to work until she is dead. Is that OK with you??
You're trying to take my personal morality and make that universal in addition to appealing to my pity. The former is an informal fallacy called composition, and the latter is an appeal to pity. Yours is not a valid argument.
--Mike
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How is it not valid? Your personal morality is a lot like that of the people over in Darfur. Don't they have a right to their wives?? To the lifes of their families??
Logically, no.
--Mike
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You don't think that people have the right to take care of their families? To be with their wives, husbands, or children? That people don't have the right to want their families to live just like some people in the U.S.?
You're confusing rights with freedoms. I never said that people shouldn't want to take care of their families or do everything that they can in order to do so. I'm saying that there is no such thing as a "right", only freedoms.
--Mike
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The Khartoum government didn't want the UN to undermine its sovereignty (ha). The reasons negotiations took so long is because Sudan wanted a hybrid force with 20,000 African Union members, and the UN wanted to have a greater presence. The compromise was an AU force with only a small amount of UN troops.