Rwanda happened and now Darfur is happening , Do you really care?
April 4th, 2007“a little something I posted on my blog a few days ago”
Have you heard about the Rwandan Genocide? Do you recall what happened in Rwanda in 1994?
Perhaps, you don’t exactly remember what happened during the genocide that lasted approx. 100 days but you probably remember what happened after that. . What do you recall most about it? Most people remember what the international community did, absolutely nothing.
333 1/3 lives were terminated every single hour, 800,000 were killed. All this happened while the world stood around with its hands in its pockets.
So, not a lot of action was taken to stop the Rwandan Genocide but currently, Darfur awareness is all over the place. It seems that the whole world is concerned about Darfur. I read about it everywhere I turn and its the first thing that pops up when you hear the word “Sudan”. The first question I am asked when I mention I’m from the Sudan is “what do you think about Darfur ” or “what is going on in Darfur “.
I’ve read a lot of articles about Darfur and the actions that should be taken there, some of them mentioned the Rwandan Genocide by saying” we allowed this to happen, we should try harder to stop Darfur”. Wait a minute, Do you think that the international community feels guilty after all? Do they think that by helping out in Darfur, they might make-up for their idleness in Rwanda?
The UN troops and the “Operation Turquoise” didn’t stop the genocide from taking place. The soldiers failed to stop the mass murders. Do you think that the UN troops will stop Darfur or secure the region? If you think that by sending the UN troops….Darfur will be stopped and people will be safe again. Then PLEASE dont send any soldiers, why risk their lives? Just send a bunch of housewives and they will do the same job perfectly! They can do whatever they want, pull out the American troops from Iraq and take them to Darfur, send hundreds of European soldiers and even send more African Union troops. By doing so, Are they going to solve the problem?
I dont think our beloved president will allow the troops inside the country, if he wanted to stop Darfur then he would’ve stopped it. Do you think he cares? He definitly didnt show any signs of remorse yet!
Pissed off, Shocked and Confused
Wholeheartedly-Sudaniya
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Here’s what a writer here once wrote:
A Letter to Mr. President
The reason why the action has been so mild is because no one is entirely sure of what’s going on, and no one knows the effects of it or how horrific it is. But if there was true awareness, and bigger campaigns and initiatives with an actual direction rather than a temporary donation box, people would take it more seriously and realize the only action that can be taken is mass, collective action and an enormous amount of pressure.
We will keep trying our best with the Darfur Awareness campaign.
Operation Turquoise was implemented after the 100 days, the French rushed in there to help those who committed the genocide to escape Rwanada unharmed.
UN force was on the ground and it did save lives, UNAMIR and later UNAMIR 2 did save lives in the thousands with the hand full of people they had. 5 of whom died saving the lives of Rwandans. If hand full of UN managed to save so much lives, then a larger force in Sudan can sure save even more lives. Saving the life of even 1 Darfurian is better than doing nothing.
When the genocide in Rwanda happened I didn’t notice it really. I had been twelve years old. Then I watched the movie Hotel Rwanda and I stopped after 30 minutes in order to get some background information. After having a little clue about the tragic incident, I started to watch the movie again. I felt very sad, because of not knowing it before and even more of beeing part of the “western hemisphere” who didn’t do a thing.
Now we have pretty the same situation in Darfur. For example it took the UN human rights council a very long time to declare it a crime towards humanity. But in the meantime the very same council rightly condemned endless times the actions of Israel. This might be due to the composition of the council. I hope that the overburden AU gets really help to protect the people.
Richard Haas wrote in 2004:
This includes also the policy of the UNCHR!
Dear Esraa, I do agree with you! Its really confusing! You have to do alot of readings n research to figure out what Darfur is all about.
Dear Jina, what you said is sad but very very true!
Here is a litttle piece from ” we wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families”….”" The single achievement of operation turquoise was to permit the slaughter of Tutsis to continue for an extra month, and to secure safe passage for the genocidal command to corss , with alot of its weaponry into Zaire. ”
I do agree with you the UNAMIR did save some lives but the Rwandans did have some doubts if the UNAMIR can use their weapons after all.
Well, about Darfur, the AU troops are underfunded and underpayed. If the int’l community or UN are really concerned, they should just fund the AU troops:)
Dear Marten, I was very young when Rwanda happpened however, the coverage was really horrible and alot of people didnt know about it except after it happened. People realized what happened after the refugees were everywhere.
Yes, I know what you mean. The UN is useless sometimes. Last summer, it took them forever to solve the lebanon/israeli problem and implement a proper ceasefire.
Well, Richard Haas is very optimisitc “but to prevent future Darfurs”. The world said “never again” after the Holocaust but many many genocides/wars/masscares happened after the Holocaust.”(Darfur, Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia to name a few).
World didn’t say this, whitemen did. And I don’t trust anything the whitemen say regarding important political issues in the world.
UN is an organization that depends on the member states and the dictators who run it. Dictators are the permanent members of the SC. UN is a god damn dictatorship, if the permanent members are not interested in an issue, nothing will happen. Simple as that.
Wrong, UN rarely does this, US and UK almost always veto any move to condemn Israel.
Don’t confuse the condemnations by the SG with UN condemning Israel.
Jina, I don’t speak of the Security Council. I speak of the UN Human Rights Council. The US isn’t even a member right now. Have also a look to this article.
UNHRC make me wona puke. All the human right violators are on that freaking council, China and Saudi Arabia to name a few. Like I said, dictatorship, did I mention corrupt?
Almost everything about the UN makes me go nuts.
Hey Jina,
I agree with you, the UN is useless in many situations. The thing is its soo dominated by the superpowers especially the US.
I’m gonna post something interesting in a while about the UN/Sudan and Israel.
actually nah.
taking things out of proportions.
Would be different if it was you and your family who were being raped and murdered by the masses. Perhaps it would make you feel a lot better if people looked onto your slaughter and said “nah I don’t care.”
Over 2 million lives have been claimed. Your apathy contributes to that.