Militias based in Sudan's western Darfur region are carrying out almost daily cross-border raids on villages in neighbouring Chad, says a rights group. The New York-based group Human Rights Watch says most attacks were by militia from Sudan and Chad, apparently with some Sudanese government backing.Human Rights Watch has called for an expanded international force in Darfur. It says a force is also needed along the border with Chad to protect civilians.
| I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this is a job for a company or two of Green Berets with appropriate logistics and some air cover. Teach the people of Darfur to defend themselves, and give them weapons to do so. Have some Rangers on the Chadian side of the border working to train and improve Chadian forces. Quiet, small footprint, targeted results. |
HRW researchers said they had documented numerous attacks on villages just inside Chad by militias who had crossed over the border from Sudan. They said the militias killed civilians, burned villages and stole cattle.
| And your response is more of the same failure: a UN mission. |
HRW said they were told by witnesses that those responsible were ethnic Arabs who wore Sudanese army clothing and spoke Sudanese Arabic. Some attacks have also been carried out by Chadian rebels who operate from bases inside Darfur. The report said most of the victims in Chad, as in Darfur, came from African ethnic groups and that the Arab civilians living in the same area were not harmed.
Human Rights Watch said tens of thousands of people in Chad had been internally displaced by the violence. "Sudan's policy of arming militias and letting them loose is spilling over the border and civilians have no protection from their attacks, in Darfur or in Chad," said HRW's Africa director, Peter Takirambudde.
Currently some 7,000 troops from the African Union are attempting to maintain security across the huge Darfur region. However, funding is running out and the Security Council is discussing changing this to a UN peacekeeping operation. HRW said any such UN mission should have a strong mandate to protect itself and civilians, by force if necessary, and to disarm and disband the Sudan government-sponsored militia.
| Which won't happen, because too many at the UN don't want it to happen. China wants Sudanese oil, and Arab states won't discipline Sudan. |