Is Holocaust history repeating itself with the genocide occuring in Darfur, Sudan

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by Aldo Bonincontro

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Hoping that the Holocaust of the Jewish people, of the Gypsies and the Slav populations performed by the Nazi regime were the last in the history has proved to be tragically illusory; also the humanitarian commitment of the UN and that of the humanitarian organizations in all the world has made too little to avoid the massacres or holocausts occurred after W.W. II. The massacre in Darfur, the insulated desert north-western region of Sudan is one of them.

Here, the Sudanese fundamentalist Islamic regime , lead by Omar al Bashir, wants to cancel the presence of the Black people in this region, in the largest part, Muslim as well. It's since 2003 that this people, living in the small villages of this desert or semi-desert and partially mountainous region, is attacked and killed by the Islamic militias (named "Janjawid" and armed and sponsored by Sudanese regime) who arrive suddenly by horses or jeeps to massacre the people, destroy the villages and rape and kill the women. They perform the "dirty work" for the Sudanese Army, after the defeats of 2003 and 2004 by the local guerrilla, in war against the misery and the bad administration of the Sudanese regime.

So, the Sudanese army avoids to be involved in direct fights, but it bombards very frequently the villages to help the Janjawids and spread the terror. In this way, millions of people of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups are chased away from their villages and obliged to reach, when possible, great refugees camps, near the bordering Chad, or in its territory, where the living conditions are tragic.

The help Chad can provide for this poor people is very little and only the humanitarian organization can provide food, medicines, clean water and other necessary good to partially satisfy the basic needs of these refugees; so, diseases and hunger are killing also in those camps and children are, as usual in those situations, the main victims, for infections, malnutrition, violence. The UN haven't still condemned with decision this massacre clearly defining it as genocide and sending international troops in this region, also against the Sudan's approbation because they fear the reaction of the Sudanese Army that wants to keep its "licence to kill".

This massacre is close to the Holocaust for the task to eradicate a whole community, the only difference from the Nazi Holocaust is that the Darfur genocide is not scientifically and industrially organized in extermination camps like in the Nazi Germany, but the work is performed by the militias with simple weapons and many hate and by the hard conditions of the desert.

So, killed people during the 5 years of war until 2008 were about 300,000, by the UN esteems, part for direct killing and part due to hunger and diseases, while over 2,500,000 people are displaced. Just the desert seems to be the best genocide weapon for Al-Bashir's regime, with the hunger in which millions persons are obliged to live, despite the international aids, too scarce and very difficult to give who needs them.

Another common feature is that the Sudanese regime, like the Nazi, relies on the worldly public opinion's silence and on the scarce mobilization to defend and save Darfur people, also at the political level. Surely, also the Sudanese Government deserves a "Nurnberg Trial", to condemn its crimes against mankind.

This is not only my personal idea, given that, not by chance, the situation in Darfur is described in the accusation report published in July 2008 by Mr. Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands, who has formally called for the arrest of Omar al-Bashir for the violence performed and allowed in the whole Darfur. The arrest warrant was formally sent to the same Sudanese government.

Two arrest warrants had already issued by the same ICC in 2007 against the Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun and Ali Abdul Rahman, leader of the Janjawid militia (3). Of course, Sudan government has refused to deliver to the international officers of the ICC al-Bashir and the other accused subjects.

As reported by the English newspaper "The Times" on his on-line site, the accusations report, beside the massacres, the frequent practice of the "ethnic rape" performed (like in the former Yugoslavia during the war of 1991-95) against little girls and women up to 70 years old. The drama inside the drama is that the babies born after the rape acts are often considered "Janjawid babies" and killed by local people as they were cursed.

The reaction of Al-Bashir after the charges against him were furious and he had organized of his supporters to show he has the consensus by his people and that the accusations are false. So, also the hard work of the humanitarian associations present in Darfur and in Sudan becomes even more difficult and dangerous for the risk of reprisals and killings against them. It's enough to know the statement made by the Deputy Speaker of Sudan's Parliament, Mohammed al-Hassan al-Ameen, reported by The Times:

"The UN asks us to keep its people safe, but how can we guarantee their safety when they want to seize our head of state?" (1)

In his report, Moreno-Ocampo also wrote:

"it's clear that any government has the right to control armed rebellions and the right to control its territory.... But no government can commit a genocide to control their territory". (1)

Again, but reported by the on-line site of another British newspaper. "The Guardian" (2):

"Bashir is the president. He is the commander- in-chief....He used the whole state apparatus. He used the army; he enrolled the militia/Janjawid. They all report to him. They obey him. His control is absolute".

Clearly, it seems very hard to really arrest al-Bashir and take him to the ICC tribunal, given that this guy is fully in charge, free to kill again; however, to assess with proofs, witnesses and documents, as already made last year (2008), he's a criminal for genocide is already an indelible moral stain on his figure. The fact that Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic, former Serbian leaders have been charged, captured and obliged to undergo a trial at The Hague and also Charles Taylor, dictator of Liberia has been charged can induce to a moderate optimism for the future.

Also the US have approved this arrest warrant and this is important, at the political level, but not Russia that doesn't agree with this legal action and considers it "a dangerous precedent" (due to the crimes committed in Chechnya by the Russian army, we can suppose...).

The same Amnesty International has invited all Countries visited by President al-Bashir to detain him (3). An excellent solution, at least, to insulate him diplomatically, but many African Countries are more worried for the risk of destabilizing Sudan.

References:

http://www.timesonli ne.co.uk/tol/news/wo rld/africa/article43 30605.ece (1)

http://www.guardian. co.uk/world/2008/jul /14/Sudan.warcrimes1 (2)

http://news.bbc.co.u k/2/hi/africa/792310 2.stm (3) (March 4th, 2009)

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