Phil Brennan
Thursday, July 22, 2004

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  Those who know a little history and have an ear to the ground in darkest Africa say that the Sudanese government is behind the Janjaweed, arming and supporting them. The Sudanese government denies this but according to Human Rights Watch the Sudanese government is lying. Sudan government documents now in the hands of Human Rights Watch (HRW) prove that government officials directed recruitment, arming and other support to the ethnic militias known as the Janjaweed, HRW says.

According to allAfrica.com, the government of Sudan has consistently denied recruiting and arming the Janjaweed militias, including during the recent visits of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan." It's absurd to distinguish between the Sudanese government forces and the militias - they are one," Peter Takirambudde, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Africa Division told allAfrica.com. "These documents show that militia activity has not just been condoned, it's been specifically supported by Sudan government officials."

HRW charged that the Sudanese government forces and government-backed militias are responsible for crimes against humanity, war crimes and "ethnic cleansing" involving aerial and ground attacks on civilians of the same ethnicity as members of two rebel groups in Darfur. Thousands of civilians have been killed, hundreds of women and girls have been raped and more than one million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes and farms in Darfur. Nice folks!

About one million Africans have been displaced and a further 300,000 people murdered by the Janjaweed, and the horror is expected to claim the lives of tens of thousands more before some solution is found. Men, young and old, are being slaughtered, and children die almost as soon as they are born. It has been reported that parents are being given a choice of how their children are to be murdered - being burned to death or shot. Survivors of those displaced and widows of those killed are now being forced to live in camps run by Janjaweed - the same men responsible for the mass murder and genocide of their families and neighbors.

Appearing on the Charlie Rose show, Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "Too many people are spending too much time arguing about whether it’s genocide or not. That’s not the issue." What has those who are horrified by yet another spectacle of African genocide is the fact that the outside world, especially the sainted U.N., are doing exactly what they did when at least a million people were butchered in Rwanda - which is not one damned thing. Neighboring countries such as Chad have protested, and even killed Janjaweed when they chased their prey across the border, but nobody has sent in troops to restore order and save lives.

Writes the Cato Institute's Christopher Preble: "Humanitarian crises nearly always threaten regional stability. Darfur is no exception. Recent actions and statements by Sudan's neighbors demonstrate that they recognize their interest in ending the violence. Chad recently killed 69 of the janjaweed, presumably after the militia chased its intended victims over the border into Chad's refugee camps. Chad's government is reportedly 'very worried' that the janjaweed will attempt to destabilize Chad as well. "The immigration of impoverished, sick, and desperate people certainly presents a problem for Egypt where Sudanese refugees have been seen even as far into the country as Cairo.

Kenya's foreign minister, Kalonzo Musyoka, says Kenya would be willing to 'play a leadership role' in solving the crisis in Darfur. In other words, if neighboring countries don't give a damn about the horrendous problem in Darfur, they should get in there, send troops and help out of a concern for their self-preservation.

You have to look back to begin to understand what is behind this latest holocaust. The marauding Arab nomads now known as Janjaweed have been playing their little games for as far back as the memory of man goeth. Writing in the Media Monitors Network, European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council director David Hoile quotes a diplomat as remarking, "The Janjawid have kept their traditional values and ways of living. They do the same as they used to: they steal to get. Only this time, their weapons are more sophisticated."

Hoile traced to history of the current conflict to February 2003 when two armed groups, the 'Sudan Liberation Army' (SLA) and the 'Justice and Equality Movement' (JEM), launched attacks on policemen, government garrisons and civilians in the area. Darfur, he wrote, is home to some 80 tribes and ethnic groups divided between nomads and sedentary communities. They and their communities have come under attack from several "Arab" tribes. The U.N. describes the Janjaweed as "Sudanese and Chadian horse and camel- riding Arab nomads, opportunists and criminals."

Darfur is an ecologically-fragile area and had already been subject to growing - and often armed - conflict over access to water and pastures. According to the U.N. media service: "The conflict pits farming communities against nomads who have aligned themselves with the militia groups - for whom the raids are a way of life - in stiff competition for land and resources. The militias, known as the Janjaweed, attack in large numbers on horseback and camels and are driving the farmers from their land, often pushing them towards town centres."

The U.N. media service has reported "that there was nothing new about tribal clashes between nomads of Arabic extraction and village farmers belonging to local African tribes in Darfur, but these days they have become much more deadly because the raiders are better armed."

There is nothing the United States can do, other than help relieve the human suffering and provide armed escorts for those agencies trying to feed clothe and house those suffering. Otherwise, the fact is that the U.S. - the world's policeman - is running out of cops, who are now busy elsewhere. Europe, which walked away from their African colonies after World War II and left them in the hands of local thugs and native demagogues, has the resources to step in with troops, but they seem to prefer slamming the U.S. for getting rid of Saddam Hussein and thus messing with the U.N.'s oil for food scam, in which somany of them had their sticky fingers.

So it's really up to those who have the most to lose if the slaughter continues, Sudan's neighbors. We here at home could contribute to the various private relief agencies trying to help relieve the misery in Darfur, and a few prayers wouldn't hurt either. Those are our brothers and sisters over there being choked by the Janjaweed.

Phil Brennan is a veteran journalist who writes for NewsMax.com. He is editor & publisher of Wednesday on the Web (http://www.pvbr.com) and was Washington columnist for National Review magazine in the 1960s. He also served as a staff aide for the House Republican Policy Committee and helped handle the Washington public relations operation for the Alaska Statehood Committee which won statehood for Alaska. He is also a trustee of the Lincoln Heritage Institute and a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. He can be reached at phil@newsmax.com