Darfur Update

Strategy Page points out how Chad has been sucked into the chaotic situation in Darfur. How often does brutal instability in a country ever stay completely confined within its borders? (Something to consider for those who think we should've left Hussein in Iraq.)

The continuing raids by Sudanese tribesmen have sent over 50,000 Chad civilians fleeing from their villages. Some of the Sudanese raiders belong to tribes with branches in Chad. Same thing with the victims. Like Sudan, Chad has tribes that consider themselves Arab, while others consider themselves just African. There has always been animosity between the two groups, although intermarriage, rape and slavery have resulted in both groups looking much alike, and sharing languages and customs.

Sudan continues to receive the support of other Arab nations, especially Egypt. The Arab nations oppose bringing in UN, and especially European, peacekeepers. This would offend the dignity of the Arab world (the way overthrowing Saddam Hussein did), thus the Arabs allow the ethnic cleansing of Darfur to continue, even though the victims are Moslem. These attacks are less painful to Arabs because the victims are black Africans, who have always been held in low esteem by Arabs, even if the Africans are Moslem. The UN, however, will not stop criticizing Sudan for its support of the violence. However, a coalition of Arab and Moslem nations, plus China (which wants to protect its business interests in Sudan), block any too aggressive operations by the UN.

The Arab Janjaweed militias are wreaking havoc in Darfur with the, at worst, tacit support of the Sudanese government. And, as I've mentioned here before, these militias sometimes operate in Chad.

Since 2003, Sudan's Arab Janjaweed militias have terrorized blacks in the Darfur region by burning villages, stealing cattle and livestock and indiscriminately shooting civilians.

In recent months, they've exported that campaign of terror to black villages in neighboring Chad, where victims describe attacks virtually identical to those in Darfur.

The Sudanese government has denied that it still supports the militias, but Chadians' accounts in interviews with Knight Ridder suggest that the Janjaweed remain well armed and the scope of their attacks is widening.

"They surrounded the village, they took all our animals and our food and they left nothing," said Gamar Souleymana, 30, describing a Janjaweed attack last month near the town of Goungour, about 25 miles south of Adre.

The African Union is powerless to stop the violence, and is in need of money, yet the AU recently decided to continue its mission till September, rather than asking the UN to take over now. Sudan is opposed to a UN military presence within its borders. And so, the situation continues to spiral into chaos.