Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur

Campus Report ^ | April 6, 2009 | Alanna Hultz

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Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur

by: Alanna Hultz, April 06, 2009

President Barack Obama plans to withdraw most U.S. troops from Iraq by August 2010 and the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes. During a live chat sponsored by the Brookings Institution, Brookings expert Elizabeth Ferris responded to questions about how these two decisions will affect the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Iraq and Darfur.

The discussion started off with Ferris explaining the current situation in Iraq and Darfur. Ferris said “the Bashir government has expelled 13 international aid agencies and three national NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) and there is growing concern about the humanitarian consequences for Darfur’s 2.9 million displaced people.”

NGO’s are non-business organizations created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation in any government.

In 2003 a conflict erupted between two armed groups and the government of Sudan. The armed groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), began the war with attacks on towns, government facilities and civilians in Darfur, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and policemen and the breakdown of law and order in Darfur. According to the United Nations 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes since the war began in February 2003.

Ferris said “it is important to underscore that the United Nations is still present and active in Darfur, but agencies such as the World Food Program depend on NGO’s such as CARE and Save the Children to actually deliver food and relief in the Internally Displaced Persons camps.” She continued, “without the NGO’s, food distribution becomes much more difficult, so there are fears that the humanitarian crisis will become worse."...

[Ron in Acreage]

Barack Obama hates black people.