02 July 2004

by Anai Rhoads

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Veriana Media - Currently, more than 2 million people in Sudan face a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing merely for their colour and religion.

Led by the Government in Khartoum and its Arab Janjaweed militias, African-Muslim civilians are being continuously slaughtered and raped. According to the United Nations, an estimated 170,000 refugees have fled to Chad and more than a million others are internally displaced within Darfur.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned Friday that the ongoing violence in Darfur is breeding a new generation of traumatised child survivors. According to UNICEF, at least 500,000 children have been forced to flee their villages.

"We're dealing with massive effects on the lives of children," UNICEF Director of Emergency Operations Dan Toole said. "This expulsion is creating a common memory for those who survive of mayhem, insecurity, terrible loss and the power of violence."

Concerned about the rapes and genocide of the Muslims in Darfur, Most Reverence John H. Ricard, SSJ of Pensacola-Tallahassee (FL), Chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on International Policy sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell pleading for assistance.

"The suffering of the people of Darfur, the scores of women and young girls who have been raped, and the systematic destruction of villages, fields and water sources by government forces and their Arab Janjaweed collaborators," Bishop Ricard expressed. "Unless these militias are stopped and unfettered humanitarian access is granted by the government in Khartoum, many more innocent lives will be lost.

"The United States should provide greater assistance to the whole of Sudan, not only as a 'peace dividend' to support reconstruction efforts in southern Sudan and other parts of the country, but also to demonstrate our resolve to prevent further loss of life and promote a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur."

Two UN human rights reports, released in May 2004, found the Janjaweed had committed countless human rights abuses against Darfur's black African population.

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