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Africa: East
Amnesty International sez Sudan better stop arming Janjaweed
2004-02-04
Human rights group Amnesty International demanded on Tuesday that Sudan stop arming an Arab militia accused of atrocities in the revolt-wracked western Darfur region.
"Or you're really gonna get it!"
Amnesty and rebels in remote Darfur say Khartoum is using the "Janjaweed", a horse or camel-mounted militia, as a proxy force to crush the revolt. The Sudanese government has not commented on the allegation. "There is clear evidence of cooperation between government forces and government-aligned militia," London-based Amnesty said in a statement. "The Sudanese government should cease all support and supplies to the Janjaweed or establish a clear chain of command and control over them, including making them accountable for abuses of international humanitarian law."
Ahah! A stern warning! That'll do it, by Gum!
Government officials were not immediately available for comment in Khartoum, where Tuesday was a public holiday. "Civilians have become hostages to the situation in Darfur," Amnesty said, adding whole villages were being destroyed to forcibly displace the local population. Amnesty said Khartoum had largely failed to condemn the killings, maiming, torture, abductions and arbitrary arrests in Darfur. "The silence of the authorities regarding the atrocities committed by the Janjaweed suggests that their actions are condoned, if not encouraged, by the government," Amnesty said.
Gee. Golly. Y'think? I am so surprised.
According to a witness account in a 43-page Amnesty report, Janjaweed militiamen attacked civilians telling them: "You are opponents to the regime, we must crush you. As you are black, you are like slaves. The government is on our side. The government plane is on our side, it gives us ammunitions and food."
Posted by:Dan Darling

#22  figured someone would say something like that.. would like to point out I never disagreed with AI and specificaly noted thats their statement caught me by surprised because they were actually supporting folks in need for once...
Posted by: Dcreeper   2004-2-4 10:35:04 PM  

#21   i thought this said ganjaweed. dont get me excited like that.
Posted by: muck4doo   2004-2-4 5:34:51 PM  

#20  Yikes! Ian Smith been chewing on the bark of the Yohimbi tree. :)

How did last eve's celebration of the Rhodesian Light Infantry go? Sounds like a good time.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-2-4 5:27:47 PM  

#19  Posted by: .com 2004-2-4 9:51:20
BTW... I don't see a good SUV name in there...

Let's call the next one a scooter.
Courtesy Rhodesian Bush Telegraph

Yo BT. So C***** (annonomaty guaranteed) how many servants have you got? A Petrol station and a big hole? How can you talk about my chick like that?Having tried and failed with 4 white wives I am seriously contemplating a "scooter" partner. A Scooter is a goffel female. They are called scooters because they are nice to ride but don't be seen on one.Unlike their white couterparts they are not lazy or spoilt and appreciate what is required of them. It took me years to make my wives remember where the kitchen was and then there was the question of wearing shoes in the kitchen.

PS I think that rascism and religous bigotry are all a state of mind, as are Peace and Understanding, me and my gun are off to hug a tree. Anything that moves after that, gets slotted, I'll say my scooter did it.
Posted by: Rhodesiafever   2004-2-4 5:19:54 PM  

#18  Super Hose, nice one. Three points.
Posted by: ruprecht   2004-2-4 4:55:31 PM  

#17  yeah, but by then it would be too late. If AI can shame us to focus on it, once its on our agenda AI's approach to what to do about it fades in importance.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2004-2-4 4:07:37 PM  

#16  Why we need folks like AI to look at this.

Oh, please.

AI will issue a report, maybe. If someone tried to do anything about it, AI would immediately rush to the defense of the slavers' "rights". If the US tried to do something about it, AI would be issuing reports detailing how US actions against the slave trade have endangered civil rights all over the world.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-2-4 3:23:44 PM  

#15  Oh, for a couple of A-10's...
Posted by: Ptah   2004-2-4 3:11:11 PM  

#14  Might be the time to give the rebels a few dozen old M113's mounted with 6-barrel .50 caliber gattling gun weed-eaters.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2004-2-4 3:06:37 PM  

#13  Are they arming the Janjaweed with vorpul blades that go snicker-snack?
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-2-4 2:46:00 PM  

#12  it may have been the usual order of things in the 19th c and earlier, but its not happening in the rest of africa, at least not with state sanction. Theres a reason that folks keep talking about the Sudan so much, and have for some years now. Partly due to the demographic mix (muslim majority, but with large christian/animist minority) partly due to ethnic makeup (muslims here are Arabs, not Hausa, etc) Partly due to geography/history (Sudan, on the routes to arabia/persia were slavery was legal into the 20th c, continued an active slave trade relatively late) partly perhaps due to national charecteristics of Sudan arabs (mahdi, greater jihadist orientation than elsewhere) Sudan stand out as focus of atrocities.

Will the West take a stand - dont know - right now Sudan seems to be helping against AQ, and much may be overlooked for that. Why we need folks like AI to look at this.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2004-2-4 2:41:19 PM  

#11  Liberalhawk, I agree with you that AI should focus on it. But it isn't particularly unusual for arabs to be killing blacks in Africa. It's the usual order of affairs in the last thousand-odd years of history. This is just more of the same.

Question is, will the West finally have the gumption to call it what it is, much like 1830's Britain decided that there was going to be no more slavery, and did something about it.
Posted by: Steve White   2004-2-4 12:04:49 PM  

#10  I'm pretty sure enslaving them fits with Wahabbist traditions.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-2-4 11:58:36 AM  

#9  sudanese tradition is to enslave them, not convert them. Goes back along way. may not be wahabi orthodoxy, but that doesnt always trump local custom on the ground.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2004-2-4 11:42:54 AM  

#8  Why are they killing blacks? Shouldn't the Wahabi's just incarcerate them and have the jailhouse Imans convert the blacks to jihad?
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-2-4 11:28:10 AM  

#7  LOL! I used to own a Sunbeam Tiger I nicknamed the Assasin due to the fact its constantly trying to kill me. Electrics by Lucas POD, front end by the Sudebaker brothers of Connestoga fame.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-2-4 11:19:37 AM  

#6  Personally, I prefer my new Grand Assassin with real Janjaweed leather seats and Darfur woodgrain simulated trim. Pesky pedestrians are now a thing of the past.
Posted by: john   2004-2-4 11:11:38 AM  

#5  "Amnesty said Khartoum had largely failed to condemn the killings, maiming, torture, abductions and arbitrary arrests in Darfur."
Largely? If they're arming, funding, supporting them, why, pray tell, would they do dick to condemn them? Is AI (collectively) insane? We already have clueless and hypocritical figured...

BTW... I don't see a good SUV name in there... except for Assassin, which isn't too bad. "The new Trail Assassin will get you where you want to go, even if it's over a pile of dead bodies. With its 18" ground clearance you can roll over an entire squad of opposition gunnies and still make it to the theater on time without a wrinkle..."
Posted by: .com   2004-2-4 9:51:20 AM  

#4  pardon, but the fact that arabs are killing blacks in africa seems like a particularly big deal, and one that AI should certainly focus on.

Sounds like ethnic cleansing here.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2004-2-4 9:43:56 AM  

#3  Hmmmm....

"Janjaweed" == "Ganjaweed" == "Hashish"?

Do these thugs consider themselves latter-day Assassins?
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-2-4 8:38:56 AM  

#2  "The Janjaweed Militia"Got a nice ring to it.... sounds like they may hide out in the Yohimbi forrests.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-2-4 7:26:16 AM  

#1  for a second there I thought AI had finally gotten a clue, buh end clarified it, they only care because the group targeted 'people of color', doubt they would give a shit if they were white.. they sure as hell dont care about the JOOOOOs, except that they should stop defending themselves. feh

when did freedom and rights movements lose their way anyway? are there any good ones ?
Posted by: Dcreeper   2004-2-4 4:08:39 AM  

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