Photographer : Wikicommons |
In 1994, a huge civil war erupted in Rwanda between two competing tribes, the Tutsis and the Hutus. The resulting genocide saw the slaughter of around 940,000 people. Strangely, no international powers intervened. The world not only remembers the death of all these innocent people but also the international community’s lack of response to one of the biggest tragedies in history.
The UN and the rest of the world now regard the Rwandan tragedy as one of the greatest failures to act against genocide in history. Ten years on, it seems that history is repeating itself, as the Sudan enters a mass crisis which has already seen over 30,000 deaths and two million refugees displaced. Once again the world stood by, failing to take immediate action to try and prevent another massacre.
Sudan not Saddam…
- Sudan is the largest country in Africa. It has 33.6 million inhabitants, of which 60% are Muslim, 25% Animist and 15% Christian
- Sudan has had a number of unstable civilian and military governments since it gained independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom in 1954. The result has been chaos and the longest (and still ongoing) civil war in recorded history. It broke out in 1955.
- Sudan has the largest population of displaced people in the world at over 6 million people
Conflict in DarfurDarfur is a region in the far west of Sudan, bordering Chad. In 2003 two local groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), began a bloody rebellion against the government for oppressing non-Arabs in favour of Arabs. It was believed that the government supported Janjaweed, an Arab militia group, accused of committing major human rights violations such as mass killings, lootings and systematic rapes. By 2005 the mass genocide caused by the Janjaweed, is believed to have resulted in 80,000 deaths and the displacement of up to 1.8 million people.
Situation reportsThe UN provides situation reports on the crisis in Darfur. These reports are produced three times a week and include information on key developments, political/civil affairs and humanitarian issues. To read the reports visit the For further reports visit the
United Nations Sudan Information GatewayHow do I know this?Care Australia,
http://www.careaustralia.org.auGlobal Nomads Group,
http://www.gng.org/International Rescue Committee,
Darfur crisis—more urgent than ever,
http://www.theirc.org/index.cfm/wwwID/2070United Nations Sudan Information Gateway,
http://www.unsudanig.org Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia,
History of Sudan,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sudan 
