A woman fled with her two young children after her home was
burned to the ground, not knowing whether her husband was alive. A
man was forced to watch as his father, grandfather and brother were
murdered; he later heard their graves had since been destroyed. A
family of six traveled for 40 days to reach safety, walking only at
night and hiding in caves during the day.
These are the stories of Sudanese citizens, as told to BBC News,
who were forced from their homes and now live in a Chadian refugee
camp ““ a sight most UCLA students will probably never see.
But members of the UCLA Darfur Action Committee are working to
change that.
The committee is one of a growing number of student-led activist
organizations dedicated to ending the humanitarian crisis in the
Darfur region of western Sudan. Among other events, the committee
will set up a faux refugee camp during “Crisis in Darfur: A
Week of Awareness, A Call to Action,” to be held from Feb. 28
to March 3.
The week is just one part of the committee’s campaign to
educate UCLA students about the systematic killing of Sudanese
citizens and to call on the international community to end the
violence.
The conflict has been escalating since February 2003, when two
rebel groups in Darfur ““ the Sudanese Liberation Movement and
the Justice and Equality Movement ““ rose up against the
government, claiming it was discriminating against black Sudanese
citizens and favoring Arabs.
The government responded to the uprising by mobilizing its
militias. But Sudanese government officials deny backing the most
brutal militia of all, the janjaweed, which has been accused of
ethnic cleansing.
The United Nations’ estimated death toll of 70,000 is
considered by many to be a gross underestimation, while the fate of
those who survive is certainly less than fortunate.
More than 2 million people have been forced from their homes.
Women and girls tell aid workers stories of rape and sexual abuse.
Many are going hungry. And diseases such as meningitis are
spreading like fire through the already over-capacity refugee
camps.
The atrocities being committed in Sudan have received too little
attention, say members of the Darfur Action Committee, which is a
coalition of several UCLA student groups.
Their week of awareness will feature letter-writing campaigns,
panel discussions with prominent human rights activists, a
candlelit vigil and fund-raisers.
The week is an overall effort to educate the UCLA community
about the issue and to get people involved in the effort to find a
peaceful solution to the conflict.
“The more people know what’s going on, the more
people can make a change,” said Sarah Novick, an organizing
member of the committee and co-chair of the Progressive Jewish
Students’ Association, one of the many organizations that
make up the coalition.
The committee began in late November 2004, when a few students
wanted to organize a panel discussion highlighting the abuses of
women’s rights during times of war.
But as interest grew, they realized the conflict in Darfur was
an issue that needed to be addressed on its own.
Now, the Darfur Action Committee is part of a nationwide network
of student groups dedicated to a successful resolution in
Sudan.
More than 400 students at 92 U.S. colleges and universities are
dedicating themselves to ending the conflict in Darfur, Novick
said.
“We’re just thrilled and excited that these
committed and educated young students are taking the bull by the
horns,” said Sheila Breeding, center administrator for the
UCLA African Studies Center. The center provides administrative
support to the Darfur Action Committee in the form of publicity,
materials and supplies, and advice.
“People don’t realize that an individual and small
group can make a change,” Breeding said.
Other university support for the committee comes from the UCLA
Globalization Research Center ““ Africa, whose director,
political science Professor Edmond Keller, advised the committee to
connect with other student groups across the country.
“It’s basically a faculty adviser role that I
have,” he said.
While a conflict of this magnitude has no immediate or easy
solution, Novick said, there are steps that can be taken to ensure
a more peaceful future in Sudan.
One of those steps, she said, is to offer support to the African
Union peacekeepers who are trying to protect civilians and end the
violence in the region.
“People need to be protecting the citizens in the
villages,” Novick said. But without proper support, she said,
the African Union peacekeeping troops are not only ineffective,
they are also another target.
Another component of the committee’s efforts is raising
money which will go to the Genocide Intervention Fund, a
fundraising effort begun by students at Swarthmore College in
Pennsylvania.
But money, while desperately needed to keep aid flowing into the
region, is no solution in itself. The only real solution, Novick
said, is finding a lasting peace between the feuding groups in
Sudan, whose struggle has claimed many innocent Sudanese lives in
the crossfire.
The international community is undecided about how to approach
the situation and bring the perpetrators of the violence to
justice.
The United Nations has called for people it has named war
criminals to be brought before the International Criminal Court, a
recommendation that the Sudanese government has rejected.
The United States, unlike the United Nations, has called the
violence in Sudan genocide, but does not recognize the court
because it fears it would bring U.S. citizens under prosecution
abroad. And human rights groups like the International Crisis Group
have accused the Sudanese government of undermining aid and
peacekeeping efforts.
Meanwhile, many of the people of Sudan continue to fear for
their lives, and those who have been displaced suffer from hunger,
lack of proper shelter, disease and consuming psychological
trauma.
“Virtually nothing has been done up to this point,”
Novick said.
But student-led advocacy groups across the nation are trying to
see to it that the situation doesn’t stay that way.
For the Darfur Action Committee, the week of awareness is only
the beginning. Some members of the group are planning to attend the
UC Board of Regents meeting on March 16, where they will express
their concerns and appeal to the board to take action.
“We have so much more control as students than we do as
just citizens,” Novick said. “Because we go to a public
university … the regents have to listen to us.”
On Monday, a member of Sudan’s ruling party said African
Union-brokered talks would resume at the end of this month. The
talks had broken down in December 2004 when rebel groups refused to
meet with the government, citing fears that it was planning a
massive offensive in Darfur.
But skepticism remains. An African Union spokesman told the
Associated Press that he had received no indication that peace
talks would in fact resume.
Still, hope exists in the form of impassioned advocates like
members of the Darfur Action Committee.
“It’s hard not to want to get involved and help the
people in Darfur,” said Kristen Thompson of UNICEF at UCLA,
the group in the committee that is responsible for organizing the
mock refugee camp next week.
The display, she said, will be accompanied by tables where
students can sign letters to legislators expressing their support
of a peaceful resolution to the Sudanese conflict.
“It’s very evident that it’s making a
difference,” Novick said of their efforts.
“There’s nowhere we can go but up.”