Ethnic cleansing? Mass genocide? Civil war? Not words the average SMU student would hear on an everyday basis in regards to current local events.
But there are walls beyond the great state of Texas, and the borders of the United States. In Darfur, Sudan, over the last 42 months, more than 200,000 civilians have been killed, over two million people have been displaced from their homes, nine humanitarian workers have been killed, and 20 cars have been hijacked. There is Muslim-on-Muslim ethnic cleansing happening against the black Darfurians from their Muslim neighbors to the north, spewing from civil unrest between the rivaling neighbor nations.
Darfur is a large region in the largest country in Africa located in the western part of the Republic of the Sudan. Even before the nation’s 1956 independence from Great Britain, forms of guerrilla warfare have been going on between the Muslim northern part of Darfur, and the southern black dominated region over dominance of the land in respect to race, religion and politics.
Since the May 5 peace agreement signing at which the United Nation believed peace was finally starting to appear attainable, fighting has escalated between those who signed and did not sign the agreement to an even greater degree.
The humanitarian effort in Darfur is the largest effort of the United Nations to this date, and it is on the verge of collapsing due to lack of support from the Sudan government as well as the lack of financial support. People have little to no health care, disease is running rampant, food and shelter is quickly disappearing and the UN just does not have the funds to support the whole country unless more funds can be generated. And those who are not sick are fighting a dwindling battle everyday just to stay alive.
Did you know any of this?
Ed Board believes more people need to begin looking beyond what is in our SMU bubble. Just because it doesn’t directly impact you and your family, we are all still citizens of the world. Some students on campus have decided to take action against the atrocities being brought against the citizens of Darfur.
The first meeting of Students for a Better Society’s new committee on Darfur will be held on Thursday Aug. 31, at 5 p.m. at the Hughes-Trigg Student Center in Portico E.
SMU students need to get more involved and start looking for ways to help the greater good. If Thursdays don’t work for you, you can always use the Internet for something besides Facebook and look up local places here in Dallas where your services and constant cash flow could be of use.
