Groups form to increase awareness on world's worst humanitarian disaster

• USU panel on Darfur to be Jan. 23

By Coy Whittier

January 16, 2007 | As government-sponsored militias continue to kill, rape and loot in the province of Darfur, in western Sudan, many people have banded together to raise their voices against the killings.

But most Americans know nothing of the devastation that rages on.

A discussion panel for students is planned for next week, with the aim of increasing awareness of the crisis in Darfur. The panel, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Ballroom of the Taggart Student Center, will feature Dr. Chris Conte, a professor at USU and African specialist, along with several African students.

Violence has increased in the Darfur region of Sudan since 2003, when two rebel groups mounted an insurrection against the Sudanese government over claims that they were not being represented in major political decisions. The contention has evolved into an ethnic conflict between nomadic Arab herders and black farmers in the Darfur region.

Arab militias known as the Janjaweed wreak havoc on villages, riding in on camels and horses, only to kill, rape, and loot before burning the villages to the ground, leaving survivors without homes.

But perhaps the most shocking part of this is not the Janjaweed's actions alone, but the Sudanese government's involvement in these attacks. Many of the Janjaweed militia groups are reportedly directed by Sudanese army officers. Several pictures, such as those taken by Brian Steidle, a former U.S. Marine, show Sudanese army helicopters firing rockets into villages as Janjaweed forces prepare to enter. Steidle went to Darfur to photograph the suffering experienced by these people, but soon found in Darfur, his camera was not nearly enough. His story, along with the pictures, is available on the National Holocaust Memorial Museum's Web site, www.ushmm.org.

By late 2004, the Sudanese government's actions had left more than 1.6 million people displaced within Darfur, according to the Web site for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. An additional 200,000 had fled across the border into neighboring Chad.

In a statement presented before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 9, 2004, Secretary of State Colin Powell cited a report compiled after a group of experts contracted by the government went to Sudan to survey the damage caused by these militias. According to the report, "As of August 2004, based on available information, more than 405 villages in Darfur had been completely destroyed, with an additional 123 substantially damaged, since February 2003."

The number of internally displaced persons in Darfur is now believed to have exceeded 2.5 million, with the number of deaths arriving at 400,000.

Yet few people are aware of this humanitarian crisis.

Dr. Cathy Bullock of Utah State University's department of journalism and communication believes that this has to do with people's desire to hear of issues that are "closer to home." To many Americans, she said, these conflicts in Africa might seem so far away, having little or no effect on them.

Many organizations have been established across the nation to make society aware of the conflict in this African country.

STAND is one of such organizations.

Named "A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition," STAND is an organization composed of more than 600 university, college and high school chapters, dedicated to "promoting awareness advocating for an end to the current genocide in Darfur, Sudan and working to create a permanent anti-genocide student movement."

According to Greg Kuo, a spokesman for STAND in Washington, D.C., the organization is heavily involved in several campaigns to increase knowledge of the atrocities that are being committed out of the western world's view. Among these movements is one that would call for mandatory genocide education in the nation's schools. Many teachers already include lessons informing students of the horrors of the Holocaust, Kuo said, but these reforms would bring attention to genocide and other crimes against humanity taking place in the world today.

With the steps being taken to mandate such education, "Every high school student will know about Darfur," Kuo said.

Kuo said effective genocide education not only informs the student about events taking place, but uses that information to help the individual determine what he or she can do to help the situation, and take action.

It was with this purpose in mind that the local chapter of STAND, a club called Aggies for Africa, organized the panel planned for next week. The club was formed by USU students who wanted to sponsor events to help raise awareness on the situation in Darfur and help other students get involved.

The club will sell T-shirts for $10, both at the event and throughout the week in the TSC to raise money to benefit those affected by the crisis.

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