The Causes of the Darfur Genocide

Three days ago, Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, president of Sudan, was charged with the the horrifying crime of genocide, by the International Criminal Court. The problem with this, is that either no one really cares, or the global community is so stuck in its own problems, that it does not have the capacity to enforce any kind of charges or trial.

The Darfur conflict is an ongoing civil and guerrilla war taking places specifically in the Darfur region of Sudan. The spectacular loss of life (beginning to come to par with Rwanda’s own civil war) caused by the conflict originates between three separate groups. The first party involved is the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, which is working in tandem with the Justice and Equality Movement. Both of these groups became tired of the Sudanese government, the third player in this conflict, oppressing the native Africans in favor of the Arabs. The JEM and SLM/A became so enraged at the Sudanese for their treatments of the Africans, that they justly decided to take up arms against them during February of 2003.

Some estimate that the conflict really is not generating that high of a mortality rate, however the odds are that hundreds of thousands have died both directly and indirectly from the conflict. First, one must consider the death tolls from the large loss of life guerrilla raids and strikes cause. Next, the number of combatants lost in direct battle must be taken account. After that, consider the large number of people displaced by the conflict and their deaths resulting from such problems as loss of clean food and water and possessions. Finally the the inconceivable collateral damage resulting from the conflict, and the overall negative effect it will have on Sudan as a nation for many years to come, can not be discounted.

One may wonder how such a large loss of life and property can be accomplished in such a relatively small African nation, over a relatively short period of time. There really is only one answer to the cause of this genocide, government incompetence. I don’t just mean the incompetence of the government of Sudan, though a large amount of blame can be placed on them for their failures, no I mean the failure of the global community as a whole, to take a stand against this atrocity, plays a large role in this turn of events. It boggles my mind that although we have enough powerful weaponry to destroy the planet hundreds of times over, the world as a whole has failed to stop what started as a small conflict and has instead, let it brew into an all out seven year genocide. So really, does it matter that al-Bashir has been indicted? No it does not, for as long as we have the audacity to turn the other cheek to this problem, the core source of Darfur genocide will simply continue to get even worse.

Sources:
More info on the war in Darfur