BBC News has an interesting and disturbing story on the latest skullduggery in Sudan.
"Sudan's pro-government militias are using mass rape as a weapon in their conflict against non-Arab groups in Darfur, says Amnesty International. Girls as young as eight and women of 80 have been raped, says the human rights group, which wants an enquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity. Peace talks between the government and Darfur rebels broke down on Saturday." - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3906039.stm
War and rape have a long history together- however it still bothers me that as humans, we are capable of putting humans on the moon, sending robots to Mars, mapping the human genome, doing full hand-transplants, yet this sort of barbaric and grossly inhuman behavior is not only going on, but is tolerated by the rest of the world.
Roman legions had their famous harems, and even as recent as the American Civil War- General "Fighting Joe" Hooker had legions of prostitutes that followed in the rear ranks of his Army, so there is little argument that the current nauseating actions of the Sudanese government backed Janjaweed militia is neither unexpected nor even discouraged by the Janjaweed military leadership and the Sudanese government (that denies even having the Janjaweed working for them).
'...the Sudanese ambassador to London, Dr Hasan Abdin, denied his government was complicit in the attacks and described Amnesty's evidence as "flimsy and exaggerated". He called for a thorough investigation into any sexual abuse in Darfur. "Rape crimes need to be investigated in a very thorough manner in a court of justice and not in reports by reporters," he said.' - BBC
Wonderful, this ambassador seems to think that only this empty legal threat will suffice for Sudan's government for now. I suppose that the women and girls being rapped this afternoon and later this evening in Sudan can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the Sudanese government will be investigating these crimes in 'a very thorough manner' shortly.
"They took dozens of other girls and made us walk for three hours. During the day we were beaten and they were telling us: 'You, the black women, we will exterminate you, you have no god.' At night we were raped several times. The Arabs guarded us with arms and we were not given food for three days." - BBC
So we have pretty solid evidence here of:
- rape, on a national scale
- ethnic violence and genocide
- Arabs prosecuting non-Arabs
- significant media coverage broadcasted to the world.
Why are we missing #5- a UN (not US- UN) led coalition to either:
- launch a counter-offensive on the Janjaweed militia, and stabilize the government with UN military, police, and economic assistance.
- launch a non-intrusive peacekeeping force to protect the non-Arab refugee centers, and re-establish the bare necessities to sustain Sudanese life.
- At least provide significant humanitarian relief, with the threat of sanctions against Sudan unless the Sudanese government pulls back their motley crew of rapist thugs.
Where is the moral outrage from Muslim countries, Muslim groups, and key Muslim figures in the world? Thousands of black civilians and children are being raped and murdered in the name of Allah, and practicing Muslims aren't getting miffed about this?
When we think about the worst thing that happened to us today, I am confident that 95% of the people that read this forum are not on the level of agonizing pain that so many Sudanese non-Muslim civilians are currently experiencing. Not to demote everyone else's problems- but to put a little perspective on it. How much longer will the UN drag it's feet? How much longer will the Sudanese government glance away and pretend the worst genocide of the 21st century is occurring on their front lawn?
-CHIII