I’m trying to understand why black Muslims of Sudan are being ethnically cleansed. I thought Sudan is inhabited primarily by black people? Where did the Arabs come from? Some of the members of the government are black, so why are they allowing this arab militia to wipe out the black population??
I don’t understand what’s going on. 
Mehnaz, I think this is better suited for the culture or religion section.
I have heard that it's rather the north sudanese vs the south sudanese and they are equally as black. The north speaks arabic and the south does not. Thus I guess it turned out white arabs against black sudanese.
That's the other side of the story.
I've requested the move to Culture Forum Matsui.
I understand it's a North v. South problem. Why though? There has to be more to it, cause from my understanding, a lot of the people who are being raped, killed, etc. do speak arabic too. It's just that they are black.
Sudan is not a black country so to speak. It is ethnically divided. Originally at independence Sudan was to join with egypt which is ethnically arab. Later on, the government decided against it. So they formed their own country, which was a peicemeal between different ethnicities and african tribes. There are two ethnic groups. The north arabs and the southern blacks. The arabs are muslim while the africans are christians generally speaking. The christains have been demanding a seperate nation. Well to put it more correctly the Africans have been demanding a seperate nation and Sudan is in the middle of a civil war. Darfur is just what the media has pick up on after many years more than a decade of genocide and violence by both sides.
From the CIA World Fact book:
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/su.html
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by MehnazQ: *
I've requested the move to Culture Forum Matsui.
I understand it's a North v. South problem. Why though? There has to be more to it, cause from my understanding, a lot of the people who are being raped, killed, etc. do speak arabic too. It's just that they are black.
[/QUOTE]
Matsui's comment was the answer to your query --> Culture & Religion
Racism.
I thought is was all about water access.
From what I've heard about the treatment of non-arabs in some gulf states, whether muslim or not, it seems pretty clear that the all muslims are equal whether black or white is a slogan more than anything else. Filipinos or even arabs from poorer countries get less respect, and of course ther's the famous kids from the sub-continent who are bought as camel jockeys Allahu akbar.
So while I'm not really aware of all the facts nothing really surprises me.
I wonder, so many Pakistanis are incredibly passionate about the whole Palestinian issue and even Iraq .... and rightly so. Why is there less of an outcry when it comes to places like Sudan? Is it racism on our part? Would Pakistanis care more if it were the other way round, meaning, if it were black Muslims killing and raping the Arabs?
Anyway, I agree with you Xtreme.
Mehnaz, if you read these boards you’ll see plenty of examples of arab-worship which should answer your question. Fair enough they come in for plenty of bashing too but is it undeserved? Other than sitting on a large oil dump I fail to see what they have achieved for the past century.
Anyway the bottom line is these janjaweed are freaks…and make blacks on ganja-weed look respectable 
^ if only I wasn’t me I’d have made that last line quote of the week. What’s the matter with you people why can’t you lot take the initiative for once and put in a nomination? 
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by MehnazQ: *
I wonder, so many Pakistanis are incredibly passionate about the whole Palestinian issue and even Iraq .... and rightly so. Why is there less of an outcry when it comes to places like Sudan? Is it racism on our part? Would Pakistanis care more if it were the other way round, meaning, if it were black Muslims killing and raping the Arabs?
Anyway, I agree with you Xtreme.
[/QUOTE]
Sadly, with a handful of exceptions, pakistanis tend to be pretty quiet where black muslims are dying. We saw it in Somalia, we saw it in Eritrea, we see it now in Sudan. When fair skinned Muslims die, as in Palestine or Bosnia, we focus in on it.
It has nothing to do with color but everything to do with how we see ourselves. We force ourselves to have a connection with people of Palestine... and Iraq/Iran. They probably don’t even know that we exist.
If it were a color thing, we would have felt the strain when Chinese Muslims get persecuted by Beijing.
Looks like America will be intervening soon:
**US House calls Darfur ‘genocide’
Genocide is being committed in Sudan’s Darfur region, the US House of Representatives says in a resolution.**
Pro-government Arab militias have forced more than one million black Africans from their homes and killed thousands, human rights groups say.
The US is proposing a UN resolution threatening Sudan with sanctions. Congress urged the Bush administration to seek a strong document.
The UN is obliged to take action if it accepts genocide is occurring.
Speaking later on Friday, President George Bush said: “We made our position very clear to the Sudanese government - they must stop Janjaweed (militia) violence, they must provide access to humanitarian relief for the people who suffer”.
He said the US was working with the UN and African Union “to bring relief to the suffering people in that region”.
Both US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan have previously said they have not seen enough evidence to convince them there is a genocide in Darfur.
Sudan denies backing the militias, and has warned the US and UK not to get involved in another Iraq-style crisis.
**‘Mass graves’ **
The US Congress says the government must seek a UN resolution to authorise a multinational force to protect the displaced civilians and aid workers in Darfur.
The resolution of the US House of Representatives - adopted unanimously by 422 votes and 12 abstentions - says the Bush adminstration should call the atrocities in Darfur “by its rightful name: ‘genocide’.”
It urges the Bush administration to consider “multilateral or even unilateral intervention to prevent genocide should the United Nations Security Council fail to act”.
Many of those who have fled their homes say Janjaweed militiamen patrol outside the camps, killing men and raping women who go in search of food or firewood.
Photographer Marcus Bleasdale says he has taken pictures of between 30 and 40 mass graves in Darfur, in which up to 100 people had been buried.
“As we looked along the horizon, we could see hands and heads sticking out of the trenches,” he told the BBC.
**Sanctions threat **
“While the world debates, people die in Darfur,” Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
“We actually could save some lives instead of lamenting afterward that we should have done something.”
[an error occurred while processing this directive] But Mr Powell again accused the Sudan government of backing the militias and said bomb attacks were continuing.
“Since they turned it on, they can turn it off,” he added. “We made it clear to them that there will be consequences if it is not turned off.”
The draft US resolution calls on Khartoum to crack down on the Janjaweed militia, which are accused of carrying out thousands of rapes and killings in Darfur, or face further action, including possible sanctions.
Mr Annan said he believed the Security Council would back the US-sponsored draft resolution.
“The reactions are quite positive… My sense is that it will be successful,” he said at a joint press conference with Mr Powell.
**Police feared **
Sudanese officials warned against any meddling in the country’s internal affairs.
“We don’t need any [UN] resolutions. Any resolutions from the Security Council will complicate things,” said Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail.
He likened US and British pressure on Sudan as similar to that put on Iraq before the war there.
Some 6,000 policemen have been sent to restore peace in Darfur but the BBC’s Hilary Andersson says those who have fled their homes are afraid of “uniformed men of any kind”.
They fear the policemen could be used to force them to return home and accuse Sudan’s security forces of working closely with the militias.
Sudan has also promised to disarm the Janjaweed, but the US says this has not yet started.
Sudan blames the conflict on rebels who took up arms last year, demanding greater rights for Darfur’s non-Arab groups.
They won't intervene. They haven't got the forces for it without implementing a draft, plus they've invested too much effort into working with Khartoum to establish the peace treaty in the south. The US relationship with the Sudanese govt is stronger than ever in the past 20 years.
I don't think they would physically send their troops there but setting up sanctions against Sudan could be a possibility. It's sad stuff that still few Muslims countries are speaking out against this.
Mehnaz that is because countries like Pakistan look up to Arabs as models. Disgusting really!!
Because they are not being butchered by the kafirs, pure and simple. Forget Sudan, when your own people are killed by your not very pak army you simply watch and pat your soldiers on the back for killing >>ghaddars<<.
And BTW, have we ever done something good for the Arabs, instead of sheding crocodile tears for Palestinians?