Darfur - The forgotten cause, Please Watch

[seeker_of_ilm]

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Please turn off your speakers for these Videos, they do contain Music, but they are very informative, and raise awareness of what is happening in Darfur.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=o3NTmBGPtns
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5DcFs4NSDT0
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tn_DMkiD4x8

These videos dont' have music:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_rGD6FhenyU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RJb9Y1dg1aI

Something needs to be done, and the least you can do is educate yourself and others about the horrors occuring in Darfur.

Thank you for your time

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[seeker_of_ilm]

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Testimonies from survivors of Genocide

The following are testimonies by just a few Darfurians, talking about the horrors they have witnessed and experienced due to this Genocide. Please read:-

48 Year old man
"I saw soldiers in uniforms in the fields, so I went to greet them. One of them said 'Wrong' you think we're the Chadian army, How do you know we're from Chad?' He said, 'Have you heard of the Janjaweed?' I said 'I don't know' So he said 'Ok Run' I'm not a thief, Why should I run? But I ran. Then he said 'Hey!' I turned around. He shot me."

Father of a 3 year old girl killed in Bir Kedouas
"When the Janjaweed arrived, I took my daughter in my arms and ran away. But I was shot in the leg and had to slow down. That is when my daughter Husna was shot"

Resident of Djawara
"One Sunday after the attack on Djawara, some girls from our village went to collect firewood from the Waadi, and came accross some Janjaweed. One of them managed to escape to warn us. When we, parents and villagers arrived in the Waadi, the Janjaweed shot at us. The four girls were raped. Here girls have a duty to get married. There are hardly any single people, but none will marry these girls now that this has happened. The four girls are 13, 10, 12 and 9."

Woman from North Darfur
"They were regular soldiers, with no rank. They wore army uniforms, and one had a kalashnikov. The police have red caps. There were two with red caps, but the others were bare headed. They whipped me with two whips, used by three men. I said nothing. I could not scream. I was raped by all Five. I did not report the rape, because they were government soldiers."

The Chief of the Village of Djimeze
"There was a thick smoke coming from our gardens, where we used to grow Sugar Cane, Mango trees, bananas and vegetables 10 minutes walk from our village. We took our spears, arrows and buckets. When we arrived we saw the Janjaweed were standing watching the fire. People from other villages who had come to help us were also trapped. We used our arrows and spears against the Janjaweed, but there was not much we could do. The fighting lasted 3 hours. Many of us were killed."

Man from Deleig
"Then they lined us up, made us kneel down and bend our heads, and shot us from behind. I was left for dead. The executioners were army soldiers and Janjaweed, operating together."

Woman from Koloy
"The Janjaweed, got information from Children, they asked them questions about cattle owners. When children refused to answer their questions, they were beaten up, and had hot mud put on their heads."

Man from Mukjar
"The young men who gathered here were taken from the military compound by car to the forest and shot there."

Forty year old Fur woman from South Darfur
"I covered her with my body, and prevented them from taking her. They became very angry. They lashed me and decided to have me."

Villager from Djedida
"All the faithful were kneeling down for prayer at 6.30 on December 1st 2005, when the Janjaweed entered by the two doors of the Mosque. There were more than 50 of them and as soon as they had got into the building they started firing at people. There was a stampede and people ran in every direction. Four people were killed right in front of me, and three others were wounded. My younger brother, Mohammed Adam, was hit right in front of me. The bullet went through his eye, and came out through his throat"

Displaced woman who lost a leg
"They killed my two sons, my husband and my brother. They took everything I had, and then they shot me. They took EVERYTHING I have"

Mother of a 16 year old girl
"My daughter screams at night, she is not happy as she used to be, before. She cannot sit in one place. She is Possessed. She is always worried and in continuous movement. I never talked to her about what happened although she knows that I know what happened to her. Of course she does. I cleaned her wounds after she returned every day, but still, talking about it is very difficult."

Displaced woman in Goz Beida
"We didn't come here for fun. We came because, we saw real blood running like water in our village. It was dreadful. They've killed all our men and left us helpless. The men used to feed us but now theres noone to help us at all. They used knives to cut the mens throats and guns to shoot down defenceless people. Now we can't even find food to eat in our own country. They say they take care of refugees, but it seems that they don't understand that we're refugees, in our own country."

The Sultan of Dar Sila
"In this country, with its diverse population, if you give guns to one group, you're pitting brother against brother and thats volatile, and its not good. And who is it whos done that? The Sudanese Government has done that."

Thank you for your time.

[Kittygyal]

salamualikum.

CAUTION: DOES CONTAIN MUSIC LIKE BROTHER SAID SO PLEASE CLOSE YH SPEAKERS PLEASE!!

YA ALLAH! imsad ya allah! imsad imsad imsad imsad imsad imsad imsad
MAY ALLAH SUABHWNATALLAH HELP THEM YA ALLAH I FEEL HORRID!!! :cry: :cry: :cry:
Ma'assalama

[seeker_of_ilm]

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Testimonies of rape in Sudan

In its report Rape as a Weapon of War, Amnesty publishes the testimonies of some of the hundreds of women its researchers have spoken to:

Female refugee from Disa
"I was sleeping when the attack on Disa [village] started. I was taken away by the attackers, they were all in uniforms. They took dozens of other girls and made us walk for three hours. During the day we were beaten and they were telling us: "You, the black women, we will exterminate you, you have no god." At night we were raped several times. The Arabs guarded us with arms and we were not given food for three days."

A, a 37-year-old from Mukjar
"When we tried to escape they shot more children. They raped women; I saw many cases of Janjaweed raping women and girls. They are happy when they rape. They sing when they rape and they tell that we are just slaves and that they can do with us how they wish."

In many cases, women have been raped in public, in front of their husbands, relatives, or the wider community, Amnesty says. This is in order to humiliate her, her family and the entire group.

H, a 35-year-old man from Mukjar
"There was also another rape on a young single girl, aged 17. M was raped by six men in front of her house in front of her mother. M's brother, S, was then tied up and thrown into fire."

S, a 28-year-old from Habila region.
"In July 2003, the Arabs raped M, 14, on the market square and threatened to shoot on the witnesses if they tried to intervene. They also raped other girls in the bush."

H, a man from Magarsa
"The six men raped my daughter, who is 25 years old, in front of me, my wife and the young children"

Amnesty says that pregnant women have not been spared.

An ethnic Irenga woman from Garsila village.
"I was with another woman, Aziza, aged 18, who had her stomach slit on the night we were abducted. She was pregnant and was killed as they said: "it is the child of an enemy"."

I, from Miski.
"At 7am in August 2003, our village was surrounded by the Janjaweed; we heard machine guns and most of the people ran away, some were killed while trying to escape. My sister, M, aged 43, was captured by the military and the Janjaweed. They tried to sleep with her. She resisted, I was present and could hear her: "I will not do something like this even if you kill me" and they immediately killed her."

N, a 30-year-old from Um Baru.
"The attack took place at 8am on 29 February 2004 when soldiers arrived by car, camels and horses. The Janjaweed were inside the houses and the soldiers outside. Some 15 women and girls who had not fled quickly enough were raped in different huts in the village. The Janjaweed broke the limbs (arms or legs) of some women and girls to prevent them from escaping. The Janjaweed remained in the village for six or seven days. After the rapes, the Janjaweed looted the houses."

A, a 66-year-old farmer from Um Baru.
"They took KM, who is 12 years old in the open air. Her father was killed by the Janjaweed in Um Baru, the rest of the family ran away and she was captured by the Janjaweed who were on horseback. More than six people used her as a wife; she stayed with the Janjaweed and the military more than 10 days. K, another woman who is married, aged 18, ran away but was captured by the Janjaweed who slept with her in the open place, all of them slept with her. She is still with them. A, a teacher, told me that they broke her leg after raping her."

Married women are sometimes rejected by their husbands after being raped.

Single women may never be able to find husbands due to the stigma. They are seen as "spoiled", Amnesty says.

S, from Silaya says she was abducted along with eight other women:

"After six days some of the girls were released. But the others, as young as eight years old were kept there. Five to six men would rape us in rounds, one after the other for hours during six days, every night. My husband could not forgive me after this, he disowned me."

A refugee from Kenyu.
"We believe that nobody can become pregnant when raped, because this is unwanted sex and you cannot have a child from unwanted sex. For those who are in the camps in Darfur, those whom they rape day and night, they might become pregnant. Then only Allah can help the child to look like the mother. If an Arab child is born, this cannot be accepted."

K, a 40-year-old woman from Jaroko.
"If they become pregnant they must escape, they cannot stay in their family or in their community. Why? Because it is not normal for her to be pregnant from being raped, so she has to go."

Amnesty says that even in refugee camps, women are not safe from sexual violence.

Parents fear they may not be able to "control" their daughters and try to marry them off quickly to preserve the family honour. As a result bride prices (money paid by a groom's family) are falling.

A refugee in Goz Amir camp, Chad.
"Marriage is very very cheap in our days."

Amnesty says that almost all of the rapes were carried out with either the direct involvement or in view of government forces and yet no-one has been charged with rape or abduction.

One woman said she was raped outside a refugee camp in western Darfur in June 2004. She reported it to the police and the men were arrested and disarmed.

But she says their weapons were returned the next day following the intervention of Janjaweed leaders and she was told not to make any further reports.

She regularly sees the men who raped her in the market.

Amnesty calls for an international commission of inquiry into the conflict in Darfur, including claims that the widespread rapes are part of a campaign of genocide against the region's non-Arab population.

Thank you for your time.

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[Kittygyal]

salamualikum.
STOP!! STOP AKHI PLEASE STOP POSTING TEM PLEASE EVERYTIME THIS THREAD POPS UP && I OPEN THE THREAD I AM IN TEARS STOP!!! imsad
Ma'assalama

[seeker_of_ilm]

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"The only thing in abundance in Darfur is weapons. It's easier to get a Kalashnikov than a loaf of bread."


'We consider ourselves lucky'

We were living in peace, but this year all hell was let loose. They attacked us, rendered us homeless, stole our belongings, our cattle, our sheep and our goats. They emptied our granaries and set fire to our huts. Everything, our entire lives, changed overnight.

I used to work in a rural school. I am lucky because I had some education and I could fend for myself. Many others were illiterate and at the mercy of wicked men. The school is now in ruins.

We were attacked by the Janjaweed. They came on horseback and camels; some drove in army jeeps. They had air cover: Antonov warplanes, MIG jet fighters and helicopter gunships bombarded our houses. Soon after the aerial bombardment finished, the Janjaweed militiamen stormed our village, terrorising innocent civilians.

We succeeded in beating them off, but then our guns ran out of bullets and they overran our village. The women fled with the children. Some were raped and killed as they were fleeing. The men were killed on the spot.

I am a widow and a grandmother. My three sons fled our village. I don't know whether they are in Darfur or not. I don't know whether they have joined the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). They just said good-bye and left the village never to return. I have lost touch with them. They left their children -- my grandchildren -- in my care, and their wives. They entrusted me with their lives.

The family is now scattered all over the region. Two of my daughters-in- law are in Darfur. They are in the camps with their children. They are suffering. I fear for their lives. The camps are not safe, and the Janjaweed sometimes raid them. One daughter- in-law is with me in Cairo. We consider ourselves lucky. But, I still worry about those we left behind.

My own two daughters and their children are with me. I don't know if the family is ever going to be reunited.

The Janjaweed burned down our property. They came on horseback. They ransacked the village and set fire to the huts. I am an old woman, so they were not interested in me. But I saw them rape a young neighbour of mine. They raped her and killed her. She was very beautiful and very young. She never lived to see her wedding day.
Hawwa Ahmed

'I will not go back'

In January, February, March and April this year, heavily armed Fur and Zaghawa tribesmen looted our village and destroyed everything they found.

Some of them wanted to kill us. Others did not. They quarreled among themselves, some insisting that we be killed because we constituted a threat to them. They said that we were Janjaweed. We protested our innocence to no avail. They wanted us to join the SLA, but we refused. We told them that we would have to hold a tribal meeting and that the tribal elders would decide. Most of us decided to flee our villages and seek safe haven in the refugee camps. When there is security in Darfur one day, I will go back. From what I hear, the security situation has deteriorated and it is still not safe.

The attackers burned our village and everything in it. We fled to the refugee camp because we had nothing left and we feared for our lives. I used to have 160 cows, as well as other livestock -- sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, and chickens. We lost everything, everything.
Bahruddin Omar

'Coping with calamity'

This year we could not plant our crops because of the war. We were hungry and war-weary. We fled our village in desperation. We moved to the refugee camps.

We got food from the World Food Programme (WFP). They were very generous; they helped us cope with the calamity that befell us. The WFP helped us survive the ordeal.

I am 46 years old. I have two wives and seven children. I came to Egypt in June this year because of the war.

I am emotionally attached to my homeland. I am waiting for the right time when I can return there.

We have no money for transport or any other means to go back to our homeland. I do not know if we are ever going back to Darfur.

We received our first rations of food from the WFP in June. I am very grateful for the food my family and I received, but we would have liked more.
Tajuddin Adam

Hawwa Ahmed (an ethnic Fur woman), Bahruddin Omar (an ethnic Arab of Darfur) and Tajuddin Adam (an ethnic Fur man) are three Sudanese refugees who fled Darfur in May, June and July 2004, respectively. They are currently residing in Cairo and spoke to Gamal Nkrumah on condition of anonymity. These are not their real names, and the names of their villages have been deliberately omitted.

[seeker_of_ilm]

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Testimonies of the Darfur Genocide

Survivors of the on-going (as of December 2006) Darfur genocide share their stories of attacks on them by the Sudanese military and the government sponsored militia. This footage was collected by a two man citizen reporting team in December 2005.

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[seeker_of_ilm]

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A resident of Bir Kedouas village
"People were in the village when the Janjawid arrived at 10am. They were more than 300 and they were divided in three columns which were heading in different directions. They were ululating and shouting ‘We came to kill the black slaves.’ They came in the houses and ran after those who were trying to flee. I was running away next to the imam who was very old. He was shot four times in the back and in the leg. They then burnt the village. Only 10 out of 100 houses remained intact. The villagers fled to the village of Muruske."


The chief of the village of Torora
"The village was attacked over three consecutive days on 5, 6 and 7 of February 2006. In the first attack which took place at the cattle camp, five persons were killed: Abaker Suleiman, Hassan Ahmat, Dehie Ibrahim, Abaker Mahamat and Hassan Abdulaye. The two following attacks took place in the village itself. When they attacked, they shouted at the Dajo, "Get out of your house, you slaves, this is not your land." The villagers fled immediately to Koloy and, after Koloy was attacked, they fled again on 30 March. Koloy was attacked three times between 30 March and 5 April."

A villager from Barungo, near Harraza
"The Janjawid came on Saturday at 4 pm, to my village Barungo [5.5km north of Harraza]. They had already stolen most of our cattle from us in past raids. This time they took what was remaining: the sheep and goats. We did not resist and only one person was killed. The same day the Janjawid kept moving north and raided the villages of Hidjer and Eid al-Ghanam too. On Sunday some of us decided it was too much; it was time to leave. By Thursday most of the people in the villages had left, either to here [Daguessa] or to Sudan."

The chief of the village of Djimenez
"If a man goes out to farm, they get shot. And when a woman goes out they get mugged and raped. About two, three, four, five women have been raped recently. We can’t do anything to stop it in case they kill us."

[seeker_of_ilm]

:sl:

How did the conflict start?

The conflict began in the arid and impoverished region early in 2003 after a rebel group began attacking government targets, saying the region was being neglected by Khartoum.

The rebels say the government is oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs.

Darfur, which means land of the Fur, has faced many years of tension over land and grazing rights between the mostly nomadic Arabs, and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zagawa communities.

There are two main rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), although the peace talks were complicated by splits in both groups, some along ethnic lines.

The groups opposed to a May peace deal with the government have now merged into the National Redemption Front led by former Darfur governor Ahmed Diraige.

What is the government doing?

It admits mobilising "self-defence militias" following rebel attacks but denies any links to the Janjaweed, accused of trying to "cleanse" black Africans from large swathes of territory.

Refugees from Darfur say that following air raids by government aircraft, the Janjaweed ride into villages on horses and camels, slaughtering men, raping women and stealing whatever they can find.


Many women report being abducted by the Janjaweed and held as sex slaves for more than a week before being released.

Human rights groups, the US Congress and the former US Secretary of State Colin Powell all said that genocide was taking place - though a UN investigation team sent to Sudan said that while war crimes had been committed, there had been no intent to commit genocide.

Sudan's government denies being in control of the Janjaweed and President Omar al-Bashir has called them "thieves and gangsters".

After strong international pressure and the threat of sanctions, the government promised to disarm the Janjaweed. But so far there is little evidence this has happened.

Trials have been announced in Khartoum of some members of the security forces suspected of abuses - but this is viewed as part of a campaign against UN-backed attempts to get some 50 key suspects tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

What has happened to the civilians?

Millions have fled their destroyed villages, with many heading for camps near Darfur's main towns. But there is not enough food, water or medicine.

The Janjaweed patrol outside the camps and Darfurians say the men are killed and the women raped if they venture too far in search of firewood or water.


The Janjaweed are accused of 'ethnic cleansing'
Some 200,000 have also sought safety in neighbouring Chad, but many of these are camped along a 600km stretch of the border and remain vulnerable to attacks from Sudan.

The refugees are also threatened by the diplomatic fallout between Chad and Sudan as the neighbours accuse one another of supporting each other's rebel groups.


Chad's eastern areas have a similar ethnic make-up to Darfur.

Many aid agencies are working in Darfur but they are unable to get access to vast areas because of the fighting.


How many have died?

With much of Darfur inaccessible to aid workers and researchers, calculating how many deaths there have been in the past three years is impossible.


What researchers have done is to estimate the deaths based on surveys in areas they can reach.

The latest research published in September 2006 in the journal Science puts the numbers of deaths above and beyond those that would normally die in this inhospitable area at "no fewer than 200,000".

The US researchers say that their figures are the most compelling and persuasive estimate to date. They have made no distinction between those dying as a result of violence and those dying as a result of starvation or disease in refugee camps.

Accurate figures are crucial in determining whether the deaths in Darfur are genocide or - as the Sudanese government says - the situation is being exaggerated.


What happened to the peace deal?

SLA leader Minni Minawi, who signed the May peace deal, was given a large budget, but his fighters have already been accused by Amnesty International of abuses against people in areas opposed to the peace deal.

The smaller SLA faction and Jem did not sign the deal.


The government again promised to disarm the Janjaweed but there appears no evidence of this.

The UN's Jan Egeland says that there has been a dramatic increase in violence and displacement since the deal was signed.

With the peace deal looking unworkable and amid fears of renewed "all-out war", there appears little prospect of people returning to their villages for some time yet.


Is anyone trying to stop the fighting?

About 7,000 African Union troops have slowly been deployed in Darfur on a very limited mandate.

Experts say the soldiers are too few to cover an area the size of France, and the African Union says it does not have the money to fund the operation for much longer.

Sudan has resisted strong western diplomatic pressure for the UN to take control of the peacekeeping mission. The latest plan envisages a more than doubling of numbers and a hybrid force with much greater UN involvement but at present there is deadlock.

In April 2006, the UN Security Council passed a resolution imposing sanctions against four Sudanese nationals accused of war crimes in Darfur that include two rebel leaders, a former air force chief, and a Janjaweed militia leader.

A dossier of evidence compiled by a UN commission has also been passed to the ICC in The Hague, along with the names of top war crimes suspects.

[boriqee]

could some one explain to me through a detailed analysis of what is going on over there like who is the agressor and who's the victim, who is muslim or who is not, or whether all are or all are not, who rules.

i would deeply apreciate this

asalamu alaikum

[wafa islam]

Subhan Allah

This is shocking. And a thing I don't understand, is why the girls who are raped are not forgiven by their family/husband. Subhan Allah, this was not her fault. Instead they (the family) should be angry with the people who do such things, A'oudubillah. This happen in some Muslim countries (the victim is being treated unfair).

Wa alaykum salam

[Muezzin]

It angers and disappoints me that Darfur seems to be ignored by everyone, including Muslims.

Jazakallah for making this thread to raise awareness.