more on Sudan

Sudan is a mess. What is happening there is genocide. Poor blacks in Dafur in west Sudan took up arms against the government to protest marginalization of their people in 2003. The government responded by hiring Arab militias, "known as the Janjawid (guns on horseback) who began attacking villages, killing, raping and abducting people, destroying homes and other property, including water sources and looting livestock. At times government troops also attacked villages alongside the Janjawid, and government aircraft have been bombing villages sometimes just before Janjawid attacks, suggesting that these attacks were coordinated. The links between the Sudanese armed forces and the Janjawid are incontrovertible, the Janjawid are now wearing uniforms provided by the army."

Hundreds of thousands of blacks have been removed from their homes in Dafur in west Sudan, and tens of thousands have likely been killed because of their skin colour. An indication of the severity of the circumstances there occurred yesterday when security forces fired on students trying to present a petition to Annan, injuring five.

If these repressive actions do not stop, diplomatic action must be taking against the Sudanese government.

For more information on the crisis and on how to help, see this Amnesty page. See also this page from Human Rights Watch, calling for US and UN action, and the invocation of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.