A Journey to Darfur

A Journey to Darfur is a DVD documentary done by George Clooney and his father, Nick. Back in April of 2006 they took a trip to the Darfur region to shine a light on the genocide happening there. They spent a little time on the documentary talking about struggles with the U.N. with just getting aid over there. What they wanteed from the U.N. was to provide troops or personnel to protect the displaced men, women and children from further harm. Even that kind of aid isn't being given.

Countless women and even young girls are brutally raped by the Janjaweed, these are groups of nomadic Arabs that are basically doing all the killing for the Sudanese government. It is so bad that the women can't even hunt for firewood without the threat of being raped. Sometimes unwanted pregnancies are the result. An interviewed professor (I'm sorry I don't recall his name) said that rape is considered a war crime, and is often used in war to cause humiliation and dispel any feelings of hope within a group of victims. Other things the Janjaweed will do is burn all the crops, food storage, huts and poison the water supply to discourage people from coming back to their homes.

Other parts of the documentary showed George interviewing some of the refugees. Many had sad tales and all had lost many members of their families. One interview happened when a little girl about 8 years old asked when they (the Americans) would be coming back with help. George answered, "Soon", to which she replied, "that's what they all say."

Upon returning home, the Clooney's attended a Save Darfur rally in Washington D.C., and also met with members of the U.N. Part of the problem is the U.N. is willing to get in help in the form of soldiers only if the Sudanese government invites them in. Of course, Sudan just isn't going to do that. At this point in time, our government and those of other nations are unwilling to go in without an invitation. They claim they don't want to start another holy war, because that is what Sudan says will happen if American troops come into their nation. The Clooney's want the government, individuals and groups to stand up and say, "Not on our watch".

Vice Documentary on the Sudan

This is just a documentary on the Sudan that was done by some staff over at Vice magazine. In conjuntion with Maw Book's Blogging for Darfur, I watched it and decided to blog about it.

Many of you may know, or maybe you don't, about the genocide in Darfur. What I gathered is that Darfur is a state within the country of Sudan. If I'm wrong, please feel free to comment. While I am not completely familiar with what is happening over there, I do occasionally hear little tidbits about it. Hmm, George Clooney made a video about it, and genocide. So that much I knew in a nutshell. Pretty bad huh.

Now maybe parties in power are just trying to pull the wool over our eyes, but I'd assumed that what was happening over there was similar with the genocide that happened in Rwanda. That was where one tribe decided it was superior over another tribe and wanted to eliminate them.
Maybe that was an excuse for the Sudanese government to kick the people out of Darfur, but Vice believes it is all about the discovery of oil.

It is very dangerous in Sudan to be yielding a camera. The staff at Vice were almost throw in jail a couple of times, and were lucky to get out of there with their cameras in tact. They (I don't know if this includes the government, oil companies, or both) just don't want the world to know what is going on. At least, that is how I interpreted it.

The oil companies come from China, India, and Indonesia (probably other countries) literally take all the profit. Another state (or city) where oil is being drilled is very impoverished. They don't see hardly any profit (if at all) from the oil that is being drilled. What is happening in Darfur is similar to what happened in another Sudanese state. Oil was discovered and a military group came in and forced all the people out.

Now I wouldn't call myself an expert after one documentary, so I am going to try to get some books at the library. Keep a look out for future posts about Darfur. Oh, and go check out Vice's Documentary. The link is above.

Please feel free to visit Maw Books and post a comment on any of Natasha's posts throughout the month of September. Every time you do, she will donate money for Darfur. The button is on my sidebar.