By
Patrick L. Thimangu
St. Louis, Missouri
June
15 (ML) -- The recent reaction of the Sudanese government
to the ethnic slaughter of thousands of its people in Darfur province
would be laughable, if the events weren't so tragic.
According
to a recent statement from the Sudanese embassy in Washington, the
troubles in Darfur, west Sudan, are an exaggeration and distortion
by biased American media. And if there are more deaths in the next
few months, as anticipated, then the international community is
to blame, says President Omar el-Bashir's government.
"What
has drawn media attention, illustrated by today's editorial in the
Washington Post, is the anticipated death of 300,000 people in Darfur,"
stated the embassy June 7. "Not surprisingly the article fails to
mention that these deaths will occur because the response of the
international community to food and medical shortages never exceeded
20 percent of the actual needs."
The
embassy reaction came as international media reported that a one-year-old
rebellion in Darfur, home to about six million people, had gained
deadly momentum marked by ethnic cleansing and displacement of about
one million people. The strife, which began as a secession bid led
by a group known as the Darfur Liberation Front early last year,
has turned into a complex and wide scale conflict. It pits Muslim
African tribesmen, including the Fur and Zagawa, against Muslim
Arabic nomads who are supported by El Bashir's government in Khartoum.
 International
organizations -- including the United Nations and observers from
human rights groups such as the Committee on Conscience at the U.S.
Holocaust Museum -- also have documented that these African tribes
are not only losing the fight in Darfur, but they are staring at
mass murder on the scale of the Rwanda Genocide of 1994. Most of
the killing is being done by militias backed by the Sudanese government,
which is also ensuring international aid does not get to survivors.
All
the evidence, though, seems to mean nothing to the Sudanese government,
which has grown accustomed to killing on a massive scale. The history
of Sudan in general has so much bloodshed that people within the
country have few options but to flee, or get used to dying -- and
those outside the country have become jaded.
Since
Sudan, Africa's largest country, gained independence from Egypt
and Britain in 1956, it has only had an unstable 11-year break from
wars, which ran from 1972 to 1983. From the time of its independence,
and especially since John Garang formed the Sudanese People's Liberation
Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in 1983 to fight the Islamic government in
the north; millions of people have died in a war neither side seems
able to win. Both side have shared in the slaughter, but the northerners
have been accused by international organizations of committing bigger
atrocities against the southerners, including enslaving women and
children.
Just
as the complex battles in Darfur was getting nastier, in the last
few weeks, Garang and Bashir's regime were busy forging a peace
that might hold. Given that scenario, the Bashir government insists
the world should not really be bothered with Darfur. It dismisses
the conflict, which it's helping to fuel as a minor problem. And,
sadly, the world seems to agree by refusing to take stern action.
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