Abandoned, starving, desperate: refugees begin to give up hope

[gottaB]

Amid the degradation and misery of Otash refugee camp, where 45,000 people find themselves living under a broiling sun, what shocks most is the quiet savagery of international indifference to the situation in Darfur.

Despite well-documented reports of murders, mutilations and rapes, of families being chained together and burnt alive, moves to protect the dispossessed civilians remain haphazard and unco-ordinated. Numbing as the statistics are ­ 1.2 million people displaced, 2.2 million needing food and medicine, 350,000 possibly dying before the end of this year ­ it is the absence of large-scale international aid that is shocking.

In some camps ­ Kalma Kass and Mershing in particular ­ at least some degree of relief effort is taking place. But that effort has passed by the 45,000 at Otash.

Abandoned, starving, desperate: refugees begin to give up hope....

[nofurylike]

1. aaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[lottie244]

2. So where are the so-called "Christians" of the world?

It's sickening.

[tlcandie]

3. I don't know.. why aren't we as the world's citizens.. period doing

anything about this? It's more than tragic!! So many fires to be put out and tended to it doesn't seem there's enough time, people, or money to go around to put out the fires!!!

[TeacherCreature]

5. Where are the so called "Atheists" of the world?

It's sickening.

[Occulus]

6. Goodness, it's not religion/nonreligion OR Dem/Pub

it's humanity/lack of humanity.

I'm shamed for my species at this one.

[gatlingforme]

4. This is sooo sad,

[struggle4progress]

7. Refugees find no hiding place from Janjaweed

By David Blair in Riad, Western Darfur
(Filed: 09/08/2004)

<snip>
The 11,000 people who are crammed into the camp, near the town of El Geneina in the far west of Sudan, have abandoned their villages and fled the brutality of the government-backed Janjaweed.

Yet their tormentors are confident enough to menace them even in their squalid place of refuge. Groups of 20 or 30 Janjaweed often gather beyond the ridge on the camp's northern fringe and mount frequent gallops through Riad.
<snip>

Yet despite the regime's pledge to protect the refugees and disarm the militia by the end of this month, the army appears unwilling or unable to prevent bands of horsemen from storming through the camps.

The Janjaweed launch sporadic night raids on the refugees. Last week, two gunmen dragged a woman from her shack in Riad and tried to rape her. But the alarm was raised and the attackers fled.
<snip>

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/09/wsud09.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/09/ixworld.html


Rebels hunt villagers returning to 'safety'
By Philip Sherwell
Darfur
August 9, 2004

Scores of terrorised Sudanese refugees who believed Government promises that the local Janjaweed Arab fighters had been reined in have been attacked just days after they returned home.
<snip>

The murderous raid, one of many in recent days across the desolate terrain of Darfur, made a mockery of Khartoum's claims that it is bowing to international pressure to restore security to western Sudan.

Opening fire indiscriminately, the Janjaweed killed at least three local men and some of their own animals. At the scene of the slaughter on Saturday, the stench from the rotting camel carcasses was carried across the fields by the breeze.

Nearby, on a plain of rocky red soil, were the freshly dug graves of the human victims.
<snip>

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/08/1091903443862.html


Litany of rape and abuse in Darfur region

<snip>
Fatima was married once, and had three children, but they all died. Her husband, unhappy, divorced her. They lived in the village of Kilek, 18 kilometres from Kass. After they split up, Fatima went back to stay with her parents.

In February this year, the Janjaweed attacked the village. There was no warning; they rode in and many people were killed. Some fled, others were trapped. The Janjaweed, the Arab militia armed by the Sudanese government, kept them prisoner there for more than a month. There was no escape. Fatima was asleep when the men came for her.

"One night I was sleeping with my parents and they came looking for people. They kidnapped me and took me to another village," she said.
<snip>

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=912692004

[gottaB]

8. "What can we do if our government behaves like this?"

"I beg you ask this question to the United Nations."

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1092003010999&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724

[struggle4progress]

9. kick

:kick: