New developments in Darfur this week. Yesterday I got this dire email in my box, it's from USA for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency:
Last week we reported that some 12,000 refugees from Darfur fled the country following an outbreak of new violence. Villages were burned by the Janjaweed militia and bombed by Sudanese Antonov planes. The situation continues to deteriorate for these vulnerable men, women, and children—earlier in the week armed men prevented UNHCR aid workers from transporting refugees from the border area to one of the 12 camps the agency hosts in Chad.
Most of these refugees — 70% are women and children — were already displaced within Darfur from earlier violence. Even though UNHCR staff has brought in relief supplies, including sleeping mats, blankets, jerry cans and tents, the main priority is to move these refugees away from the border and into the safety of the camps.
What is (the world) doing about it? Not much, it seems. "Political Will" seems to have gone missing, probably on a long, long holiday.
Unfortunately there are not enough Goodwill Ambassadors like Angelina Jolie to travel to Darfur and its region to assist UNHCR in its work with refugees and displaced people. And stop the Sudanese criminals from killing any more of these poor souls. Back in July of last year I wrote this diary titled "Light at the end of the Darfur Tunnel", with cause for excitement. It didn't last long. You may recall that Sarkozy and UK's Brown teamed up on the Darfur question:
After a Franco-British mini-summit in Paris, the Prime Minister and the President announced a new diplomatic and economic initiative to try to halt the Sudanese civil war. If the initiative succeeded, they said they would go to Darfur,the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and to neighbouring Chad to ensure the "peace process is moving forward".
Guess what? Not much has happened since. Sarkozy is fairly busy with his new supermodel wife and Brown is currently mired in deep poo-poo with his seemingly incompetent cabinet. The Chinese? Too busy putting the final touches on their bloody Olympics. Johann Hari has written a fairly scathing article on the UK Independent. He does not take any prisoners:
Many people will react to this news by asking – what does China have to do with an African genocide unfolding thousands of miles away from its mainland anyway? The answer is stark. China pays for the genocide. China arms the genocide. China obstructs all attempts to stop the genocide. Indeed, the genocidal Sudanese dictatorship is so enmeshed with the Chinese Communist dictatorship that it should be rebranded as Chudan – a pooled government with pooled responsibility.
I urge you to read this article in full, and draw your own conclusions. The facts so far: more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2.2 million others forced to flee their homes across Darfur since rebel groups began fighting Government forces and allied militia in 2003.
The hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) was deployed at the start of this year to try to quell the violence and restore stability to the war-wracked and impoverished region on Sudan's western flank. But it does not seem to help or quell the fighting:
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issues report on UNAMID
20 February 2008 -- "The Secretary-General, in a report to the Security Council on the deployment of the African Union-United Nations hybrid operations in Darfur, known as UNAMID, says that the situation in West Darfur has deteriorated sharply over the past two months," said Marie Okabe, the UN Secretary-General’s Deputy Spokesperson, at a press conference at the UN Headquarters in New York today.
Business as usual. In my view the only thing we can do is to keep bombarding the Chinese embassies with a deluge of emails. Here are the numbers you can use, all are connected to the authorities responsible for the incoming Olympic Games:
General Office +86-10-66699185 mishubu@beijing2008.cn
Project Management +86-10-66693119 zongti@beijing2008.cn
International Relations +86-10-66693129 international@beijing2008.cn
Sports +86-10-66693139 sports@beijing2008.cn
Media & Communications +86-10-66693159 xuanchuan@beijing2008.cn
Construction & Environment +86-10-66693169 guihua@beijing2008.cn
environment@beijing2008.cn
Marketing +86-10-66693179 marketing@beijing2008.cn
Technology +86-10-66693209 technology@beijing2008.cn
Legal Affairs +86-10-66698109 legal@beijing2008.cn
Games Services +86-10-66698119 gamesservices@beijing2008.cn
Audit & Supervision +86-10-66698127 jiancha@beijing2008.cn
Human Resources +86-10-66698139 renshi@beijing2008.cn
Finance +86-10-66698159 caiwu@beijing2008.cn
Cultural Activities +86-10-66698189 wenhua@beijing2008.cn
Security +86-10-66698199 security@beijing2008.cn
Media Operations +86-10-66698009 mediaoperations@beijing2008.cn
Venue Management +86-10-66698029 VEM@beijing2008.cn
Logistics +86-10-66698039
Paralympic Games +86-10-66693219 paralympic@beijing2008.cn
Transport +86-10-66698059 Transport@beijing2008.cn
Volunteers +86-10-66691379 volunteerop@beijing2008.cn
Olympic Torch Relay Center +86-10-66691842 OTR@beijing2008.cn
Accreditation +86-10-66693123 accreditation@beijing2008.cn
Opening & Closing Ceremonies Operation Center +86-10-52077516 OCC@beijing2008.cn
Ticketing Center +86-10-66690741 ticketing@beijing2008.cn
The question is: does it matter to you? If it does, write an email and let them know how you feel. Thanks for reading.