It was back in December of 1992 when the world was horrified at the atrocities being committed by the Bosnian Serbs against the Bosnian Croats and particularly the Muslim community. It was an ethnic cleansing that lasted approximately three long years and where approximately 8,372 civilians died.
The murdering of civilians at the hands of the Serbian army was terrible, but as it usually happens when a group of men dominate another and where violence and hate is rampant, murdering was not the only crime these killers committed. Among the cruel acts the Serbs routinely committed was rape, beating, robbery, assault and torture to women and children. When the Serbs didn’t murder their victims, they deported them to concentration camps much like Hitler did with the Jews during WWII. The Serbs left a path of destruction in all the towns previously occupied by the Croats and Muslims, destroying their houses, businesses, places of worship and ultimately their lives.
It took 6 years for the International Criminal Tribunal to judge that the crimes committed by the Serbs against Croatians and Muslims were Crimes against Humanity and to classify it as genocide but the ICT failed to established that the “accused possessed genocidal intent.” This is the equivalent of ruling that a murder wasn’t premeditated, that provoked the ire of the world.
It took 10 years for the United States to publicly declare what took place as genocide, and to offer our support for the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Shortly after that, calm returned to the region if not peace in its entirety.
For those that don’t know where the countries of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina are, they are in Europe.
The Serbian-Bosnian conflict is considered to be the worst European massacre since WWII.
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Eight years later in February 2003 there was a civil war in another continent, the African continent, in the region of Sudan. This time the conflict was between non-Arabs and Arabs. The Janjaweed militia, supported by the government began eliminating not only the insurgents, but all non-Arab civilians as well. The massacre that took place included dismemberment of women, men, children and even babiesl raping, burning whole communities alive and shelling of over one million people.
The Janjaweeds, with the support of the Sudanese government, controlled the water and food supply driving the surviving non-Arab populations to seek refuge in the neighboring country of Chad. The United Nations Security Council tried to protect them and offered humanitarian help. However, due to the remoteness where many hundreds of thousands of the victims were, the government of Sudan was able to cut all help from reaching them and practically starved them to death.
During July 2005, there was an attack in the town of Adré, in Chad where there were many Sudanese refugees. 300 non-Arabs refugees were killed in that attack, but the Sudanese government denied any involvement or responsibility for the attack.
In 2006 in an attempt to bring peace to the region, President George W. Bush signed an agreement with Minni Minnawi, the leader of the Sudanese Liberation Army at the time, but two different smaller political groups in Sudan rejected the agreement and the attempt failed.
The genocide in Sudan continues to this day. It is estimated that about 400,000 people have been killed and about 80,000 have died from starvation. These figures are only a conservative number since no one knows what other atrocities may have taken place outside the public eye or unreported.
In 2005 the Security Council formally referred these events to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court but without mentioning any specific crimes, to issue a warrant against the Sudanese government. There were two members of the Security Council that declined to vote on the ICC resolution: United States of America and People's Republic of China.
Three years after that, in 2008, the ICC Prosecutor included ten charges of war crimes, three counts of genocide and five counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes and issued a warrant for the arrest of al-Bashir, the President of Sudan. The Arab League, composed of 21 countries and the African Union have made public their support and solidarity with al-Bashir.
Amnesty International has issued a report accusing Russia and the People’s Republic of China of violating the UN arms embargo against Darfur, Sudan. There have been reports, the latest witnessed by American actor George Clooney, of aerial attacks to villages in Darfur. There are many pictures of the equipment being used by the Sudan Air Force where it can be seen that the helicopters and airplanes used in these attacks are Russian made. According to Wikipedia, Airforces Monthly Magazine in it’s June 2007 issue confirmed that China and Iran have financed and delivered new aircrafts to Sudan.
Due to the involvement of Russia and China in this conflict, the international community and United States specifically are being very cautious and practically are not getting involved at least not directly or openly and if they are, it's been very quietly. Too quietly.
The genocide continues to this day. Thousands of innocent people keep dying by the relentless air attacks perpetrated by the Sudanese government or by starvation. Thousands are hiding in the caves of Darfur almost forgotten by the world except when, as it happened almost a month ago, someone like George Clooney shines a light in this sinister crime that is taking place far away in the Dark Continent... unfortunately, we have shown that when it comes to black people, we have a very short attention span.
The murdering of civilians at the hands of the Serbian army was terrible, but as it usually happens when a group of men dominate another and where violence and hate is rampant, murdering was not the only crime these killers committed. Among the cruel acts the Serbs routinely committed was rape, beating, robbery, assault and torture to women and children. When the Serbs didn’t murder their victims, they deported them to concentration camps much like Hitler did with the Jews during WWII. The Serbs left a path of destruction in all the towns previously occupied by the Croats and Muslims, destroying their houses, businesses, places of worship and ultimately their lives.
It took 6 years for the International Criminal Tribunal to judge that the crimes committed by the Serbs against Croatians and Muslims were Crimes against Humanity and to classify it as genocide but the ICT failed to established that the “accused possessed genocidal intent.” This is the equivalent of ruling that a murder wasn’t premeditated, that provoked the ire of the world.
It took 10 years for the United States to publicly declare what took place as genocide, and to offer our support for the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Shortly after that, calm returned to the region if not peace in its entirety.
For those that don’t know where the countries of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina are, they are in Europe.
The Serbian-Bosnian conflict is considered to be the worst European massacre since WWII.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Eight years later in February 2003 there was a civil war in another continent, the African continent, in the region of Sudan. This time the conflict was between non-Arabs and Arabs. The Janjaweed militia, supported by the government began eliminating not only the insurgents, but all non-Arab civilians as well. The massacre that took place included dismemberment of women, men, children and even babiesl raping, burning whole communities alive and shelling of over one million people.
The Janjaweeds, with the support of the Sudanese government, controlled the water and food supply driving the surviving non-Arab populations to seek refuge in the neighboring country of Chad. The United Nations Security Council tried to protect them and offered humanitarian help. However, due to the remoteness where many hundreds of thousands of the victims were, the government of Sudan was able to cut all help from reaching them and practically starved them to death.
During July 2005, there was an attack in the town of Adré, in Chad where there were many Sudanese refugees. 300 non-Arabs refugees were killed in that attack, but the Sudanese government denied any involvement or responsibility for the attack.
In 2006 in an attempt to bring peace to the region, President George W. Bush signed an agreement with Minni Minnawi, the leader of the Sudanese Liberation Army at the time, but two different smaller political groups in Sudan rejected the agreement and the attempt failed.
The genocide in Sudan continues to this day. It is estimated that about 400,000 people have been killed and about 80,000 have died from starvation. These figures are only a conservative number since no one knows what other atrocities may have taken place outside the public eye or unreported.
In 2005 the Security Council formally referred these events to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court but without mentioning any specific crimes, to issue a warrant against the Sudanese government. There were two members of the Security Council that declined to vote on the ICC resolution: United States of America and People's Republic of China.
Three years after that, in 2008, the ICC Prosecutor included ten charges of war crimes, three counts of genocide and five counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes and issued a warrant for the arrest of al-Bashir, the President of Sudan. The Arab League, composed of 21 countries and the African Union have made public their support and solidarity with al-Bashir.
Amnesty International has issued a report accusing Russia and the People’s Republic of China of violating the UN arms embargo against Darfur, Sudan. There have been reports, the latest witnessed by American actor George Clooney, of aerial attacks to villages in Darfur. There are many pictures of the equipment being used by the Sudan Air Force where it can be seen that the helicopters and airplanes used in these attacks are Russian made. According to Wikipedia, Airforces Monthly Magazine in it’s June 2007 issue confirmed that China and Iran have financed and delivered new aircrafts to Sudan.
Due to the involvement of Russia and China in this conflict, the international community and United States specifically are being very cautious and practically are not getting involved at least not directly or openly and if they are, it's been very quietly. Too quietly.
The genocide continues to this day. Thousands of innocent people keep dying by the relentless air attacks perpetrated by the Sudanese government or by starvation. Thousands are hiding in the caves of Darfur almost forgotten by the world except when, as it happened almost a month ago, someone like George Clooney shines a light in this sinister crime that is taking place far away in the Dark Continent... unfortunately, we have shown that when it comes to black people, we have a very short attention span.
