From Shaina with Love

Hi all,
I was a little slow to post, but I wasn't sure what to put up here. I'm going with the first piece I wrote for this class; it's so different from everything else I've written and it's something I'm really passionate about. Everything we've done in class has made me take things to the next level- in my writing, thinking, doing- so in this way I'm kind of bringing it back to where I started. Hope you enjoy .

-Shaina


On one of my last days in Ghana my roomates and I decided to take one last trip to our favorite beach. It was there that we happened to meet a lovely woman named Mariam, surprised to find that she had just arrived from Sudan for a brief holiday.
Her demeanor was tense on that sunny, like a person who could not find relaxtion.
However with all of the horrors of the Darfur conflict she had seen working as a nurse with African Union (AU) military forces, a sunny beach must have come as a shock.

People like her who risk their lives to helping at the frontlines are rare. They are the only hope the Darfur conflict has now. It is a situation shrouded in layers upon layers of conflict, with blurred ethnic lines of loyalty and government interference destabilizing the region. What was initially over generalized as a conflict between the Muslims of Sudan and the “Africans” of Darfur has evolved into a war of all against all, each party clinging to whatever gains it has made in battle.

In the peripherary are the raped, tortured, and displaced victims of the fighting.

In Sudan dictators were put in power by dictators, ignorant and indifferent to the indigenous populations. Government rule was handed down by former British and Egyptian imperialist rulers, it is no wonder the Government of Sudan has followed the lead of their role models. The Darfur crisis is, after all, a war of economic, but also, political interests. Until the GOS needed the land and resources in Darfur, the region was intentionally neglected. An internal imperialism has emerged, with a region of people being murdered and displaced while their government grows richer.

It is now 2008, almost five years after the Darfur conflict started. To say that the conflict was neglected by our governments and international community would be false. However, involvement in the conflict has not always meant aiding or ending it. Many of the parties involved can be attributed with grossly mismanaging the conflict, mainly through ignorance, or reaping the benefits of its continuation.

The GOS was not alone in making a business out of the killing; it had partners. Russia and China were both involved in arms trading with Sudan according to the International Crisis Group, benefitting further from maintaining oil trade while many nations of the UN Security Council called for sanctions. Its neighbors are not exempt as Libya, Chad, and Ethiopia have all interfered in the crisis as well.

Because of these economic incentives the world body, mainly through the UN, could never agree on a course of action. In the grand chambers of the UN Security Council, the great leaders of the world could not and have not put their interests aside to end human suffering.

When I think of Darfur I am completely frustrated. How could a war against a population of people be allowed to continue as it does? The conflict has engulfed the nation of the Sudan and is weakening the continent. Everyday thousands are forced from their homes, are raped, and die.

Since 2003 the groups that have been fighting to create awareness and draw support for Darfur have been telling us these facts. The media once in a while will flash images of war torn refugees on the evening news, adding to the stereotypical images of Africa that pop up in the minds of many when the continent is mentioned. What little explanation is given is usually misleading or out of context, giving the viewer the impression of “tribal” issues that have nothing to do with the rest of the world. With these cries for help desperately trying to reach us five years later, we, the people of the first world have had enough, most blind or turning numb to the despair.

When I looked into how much attention the issue was getting back in the states I noticed it was usually missing from news highlights and the media overall. “Africa Fatigue” was actually a term some friends and colleagues used when I was searching for an explanation. I learned that in all, it is a term used to describe the way people of the world neglect the issues and conflicts on the African continent because they are “too tired” to deal with them any more.

Its causes are insufficient knowledge, gross generalizations, and contact with biased news sources. This is not a new epidemic. It took hold after the crises in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The media’s focus on visions of these tragedies along with poverty and starvation, add to the likelihood of one feeling Africa Fatigue.

And what has been done so far? Aside from half- hearted attempts at effectively sanctioning the GOS and its associates, leaving Africans- through grossly underfunded and understaffed AU forces- to control the situation, and sending insufficient amounts of food and aid that usually never reaches refugees, our world powers have failed to end the conflict. The causes are evident, the impediments are evident. However, the crises seems to only grow by the minute. Meanwhile, the world body cannot agree on a course of action, leaving small fixes like food aid and extra AU troops to be the only hope of ending the conflict.

It is a shameful phrase, Africa Fatigue, and in light of the Darfur crisis it shows that mankind can be cruel enough to turn its back on its own brothers and sisters. Imagine the plight of women and children who must walk miles for water, risking rape and death. Imagine fleeing through desert from armed rebels intent to kill you. Who then has the right to feel fatigue?

We cannot allow ourselves, because of time or distance or any other excuse, to justify keeping silent. We cannot allow our leaders forget about the struggle of Darfurians. It is shameful that people of the world dare say that they can do no more, when a finger lifted can mean a world of help.

If anyone deserves to be fatigued it is people like Mariam, who even despite being in the depths of the conflict still returned two days later to do what she could on the side lines of war.