The Devil Came on Horseback...

Last night I finished reading The Devil Came on Horseback by Brian Steidle. It's about the author, an ex-Marine, and what he saw while part of an observation team in Darfur, Sudan. As part of a team under the African Union, his job was to investigate attacks by the government forces, the Arab militia, also called the janjaweed, and rebels forces on villages throughout the Darfur region. Here's the VERY simplified version of the cause of conflict: the leaders of government of Sudan (GOS) and the jajaweed are Arab and they are opposed by black African tribes. Sudan has been in civil war since the 80s because the African tribes wanted more representation in the government but the Arab leaders didn't want to give up power. A ceasefire in 2004 was supposed to end the war, but conflict in Darfur has continued. Since as early as 2003, the GOS and the GOS supported janjaweed have been systematically killing the African tribes in the Darfur region and are even crossing borders and carrying out raids of villages of refugees in Chad. The international community has done little to stop the conflict and as far as new coverage goes, it was barely a blimp on the radar screen. Although numbers vary, the UN estimates that 800,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million displaced as a result of the conflict.

There's the simplified version. After I finish these kinds of books, not only am I horrified by the killing, the rape, and the looting that takes place, but I'm also horrified by the lack of action on the part of the international community as a whole, not just the United States, although they are certainly are included. (Begin sidenote: After taking a civil wars and ethnic conflicts class I'm convinced that while the UN has done some good things, based on what happened in Rwanda, Bosnia, and now Sudan, the UN needs to not only act more decisively, but it needs to acquire some teeth in order to stop the conflict, not just send "peacekeeping" forces that have limited power to intervene. End sidenote.) At the same time, as a poor college student just trying to make enough money to pay for tuition and housing, I feel like there is little I can do to remedy the situation. I am not the Secretary General of the United Nations nor am I an influential leader in the government. However, there is something I and indeed all of us can do, and it is part of the beauty of living in a democracy. If each one of us becomes informed about the current situations not only in Sudan, but throughout the rest of the world, we can then use this knowledge to elect leaders who will (cross your fingers) take it upon themselves to try and make a difference. If enough of us voice our distaste for the way the United States and international community has handled the genocide in Darfur, whether through the ballot or otherwise, the leaders of this country will have to listen. So my challenge to you is to get informed and do something to help protect the basic human rights and freedoms of people not only in Sudan, but throughout the world-- the rights that we all, myself included, take for granted.

*There is also a documentary also entitled The Devil Came on Horseback which looks at the genocide in Darfur. I haven't seen it, I hear it's very good. View the trailer here.