ReliefWeb (press release), Switzerland
Aug 24 2007
Genocide in slow motion: How Darfur’s refugees are dying a protracted death
Source: American Jewish World Service (AJWS)
(excerpt)
Background
A delegation of US advocates participated in a mission to eastern
Chad to launch a global advocacy campaign to address the Darfur
crisis, and to interview refugees from Sudan and internally displaced
Chadians. The group also surveyed conditions in the camps – at the
Oure Cassoni refugee camp in Bahai, the Djabal refugee camp in Goz
Beida, and the Gouroukoum camp for internally displaced Chadians in
Goz Beida. After Chad, the group traveled to Kigali to discuss the
healing and reunification process with survivors of the 1994 Rwandan
genocide. The group traveled in eastern Chad from August 7 to 11,
2007 and in Rwanda from August 12 to 15, 2007.
The delegation in Chad consisted of: Mia Farrow, UNICEF Goodwill
Ambassador; Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World
Service; Ira Newble, an NBA player on the Cleveland Cavaliers; and
Jill Savitt, Director of Dream for Darfur. In Rwanda, the delegation
was joined by Omer Ismail, a Sudanese refugee, and Clare-Hope
Ashitey, an actor who appeared in Beyond the Gates, a film about the
Rwandan genocide, and the film Children of Men.
The advocacy campaign launched by the group is called Olympic Dream
for Darfur. The campaign is designed to press the Chinese government
for urgent action to end the Darfur crisis, using the 2008 Games as
leverage. China is the 2008 Olympic host and has proven to be
susceptible to pressure about Darfur because of this role. China is a
focal point because Beijing has unrivaled influence with Khartoum –
China is a close business partner and fierce diplomatic supporter of
the Sudanese regime and as such is complicit in the Darfur genocide.
The advocacy campaign involved the lighting of an Olympic-style torch
at events in both Chad and Rwanda as a way to call on China to press
President Bashir of Sudan to accept the implementation of an
international peacekeeping force for Darfur and to engage in a
goodfaith peace process. The campaign is also building a global
anti-genocide movement by uniting communities of genocide survivors
from different countries. The campaign travels next to Armenia,
Bosnia, Germany and Cambodia to involve the survivors of these
genocides in calling for an end to the crisis in Darfur.
The following report outlines the delegation’s observations from Chad
and Rwanda.
Refugees Are Experiencing Slow-Motion Genocide
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide clearly states that in addition to mass killings and
`deliberate bodily or mental harm with the intent to destroy a
national, ethnic or racial or religious group,’ the crime of genocide
also includes `deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or
in part.’ The case for genocide at the hands of the leaders in
Khartoum and their Janjaweed militias is clear. The United States
called the Darfur crisis a genocide three years ago. More than
200,000 Sudanese from Darfur have been killed – and the violence is
ongoing.
In addition to the direct killings, the population of the Darfur
region is now suffering genocide by attrition in refugee camps. By
refusing to allow international peacekeepers into Darfur and by
refusing to abide by its numerous ceasefire commitments, the regime
in Sudan prevents refugees from returning to their homes or to where
their villages stood. This keeps refugees in camps, where the
conditions amount to a slow-motion genocide of the survivors who
managed to flee deadly attacks.
The refugees with whom we spoke face sickness, disease and
malnutrition, as well as unsanitary conditions, trauma, emotional
instability and the inability to forge any semblance of a normal or
productive life. They are prevented from earning a living, receiving
an education, or living in a decent shelter. They are even at risk
collecting firewood for daily cooking, with constant fear of attack.