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Darfur’s children deserve our protection (William Hague)
17 Apr2006
We’ve seen the evidence of ethnic cleansing. We must act now or be condemned for our inhumanity
April 16, 2006  ’We send our grandmothers to collect the firewood. We know they will be beaten. But we have no choice; if we send our men, they will kill them. If we send our women or our girls, they will rape them.’ I could see the bitterness and despair on the young woman’s face as she described the cruel choice that her family is forced to make every day. We were standing in Abu Shouk displaced persons’ camp in Darfur, Sudan, in front of the flimsy tent that she called home. She explained how her community faces attack from the mounted Janjaweed militia, the same people who had driven her from her village two years ago: ’First, the planes came, then the men on horseback. They shot at us and burnt our huts. We had no choice but to run.’ (more…)
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No Responses to Darfur’s children deserve our protection (William Hague)
Brian
April 17th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
I couldn’t finish reading this sad situation. When will we all grow into a better mental understanding of the debilitating effects of genocide on the whole of humanity. Its all senseless, from the murders in Iraq to our own brothers and sisters in the US killing each other in gang violence. When does consciousness become the rule we live by ?
Dolphin
April 18th, 2006 at 6:54 am
While we’re waiting for attitudes to change, someone better protect these kids. African troops are supposed to be in there. Where are they? They UN, as ineffective as they are have to step up to the plate.
Write or email your Congressman to get some answers. This deplorable situation must be put under control. We don’t need another Ruanda.
Rick J. Armstead
April 18th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
How can I help besides writing my cong.
Dolphin
April 19th, 2006 at 9:35 am
This is from the Chinese press. We find that the AU is there as OBSERVERS. Maybe that means they watch and cluck their tongues as atrocities are comitted.
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Darfur needs up to 60,000 troops: AU commander
Commander of the African Union (AU) Force in Darfur Maj. Gen. Collins Ihikere said here Tuesday that the 7,000 troops in the troubled area were not sufficient and up to 60,000 troops more were needed.
“If you compare the strength of troops in a place like Liberia which is smaller than Darfur and we go by that kind of ratio, we might be looking at maybe 50,000 to 60,000 troops in Darfur,” he said.
At a news briefing in the Nigerian capital Abuja, Ihikere said Sudan deserved such attention because it was a big territory and had the largest land mass in Africa.
He, however, rejected suggestions that the current figure was just like a drop in the ocean. “It (figure) is more than a drop. Really more than a drop,” he said.
He said the AU Mission in Darfur was an observer mission whose primary motive was to maintain ceasefire agreements.
The mission, he added, was charged with protecting internally displaced persons and also to protect Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and international agencies that might be in danger.
“So you see, we are not keeping the peace as in the concept of peacekeeping between warring parties,” he said.
Ihikere also spoke on the enhanced peace agreement, explaining that it was expected to strengthen the peace agreements in the Chadian capital Ndjamena.
Specifically, he said, the aim was to check the incessant violations that had frustrated efforts toward a stable Darfur and ending the crises there.
The Darfur conflict, which began in February 2003, has claimed thousands upon thousands of lives and driven more than 1 million others from their homes.
Source: Xinhua