The horror in Sudan

Politics & Elections
1

I wasn’t sure if this should be here or in some other forum. Feel free to move it.

I read a horrifying NYT op-ed by Nicholas Kristof about the horror show going on in Sudan. An estimated 60,000 people (mostly males over age 10) have been slaughtered, and mass rapes and genital mutilation of women and children are the norm. Both Biden and Trump acknowledged the genocide, but have basically otherwise ignored it, with Trump going so far as to take funding away. I don’t know if the African Union has gotten involved, but this is a tragedy that needs immediate intervention.

2

So the UN is trying to end the civil war. They are already investigating war crimes and trying for ceasefires and arms restrictions.

Who do you want to do more and what do you want them to do?

There is little to no chance the current US administration will do anything significant.

Maybe the US could be shamed into helping more with food and refugee support? I suspect you’ll need to wait for Trump to be out of office.

Why hasn’t the UN got past the discussion phase of an Arms Embargo?

BTW: Hasn’t this been going on for over 2 decades already?

3

I don’t know about the African Union as a whole, but Uganda (and probably other countries) has been welcoming a ton of refugees. Last I heard (a few years ago), the number of refugees in Uganda is up near 20% of the native population, and they’re building homes and infrastructure for all of them, to the same standards as the native population.

Remember that, when Americans say that there’s no way our country can possibly accept refugees.

4

Unfortunately, it’s really just the Hierarchy of Death situation. In general, black/African deaths rank the lowest in priority, in the eyes of Western media, and so nothing will be done. That being said, one reason there is probably much less gusto for fixing this problem is the lack of a clear aggressor and clear victim side, unlike Russia-Ukraine (unless I’m mistaken? Is there a clear good side in Sudan?)

5

The side without state-backed chattel slavery and genocidal goals I think.

6

Very interesting. We lived in Uganda for a year back in the 90s and it didn’t strike me as being particularly welcoming to outsiders. So this is a major change, despite the dictatorial trending of Museveni, who has been in power since '86. He started out being pretty liberal, but has turned into a dictator who won’t allow any other political parties in the country.

I don’t have a suggested solution, as I don’t know what the options might be. Kristof didn’t mention any, either. I know that there used to be an African military corps that was similar in makeup to the NATO forces. I don’t know if that still exists.

I’m sure that this has been going on for some time and there seem to be few voices other than Kristof’s who are bringing attention to it. But then I’m not exactly up to date on that part of the world any longer.

7

It’s possible, of course, that they don’t regard other Africans as “outsiders” in the same way that they do you. A lot of the refugees already had tribemates or even family in Uganda.

8

Oh, absolutely. I have to admit to ignorance about the population demographics when we were there. The country was nervous about their proximity to Congo and it’s militancy, and the northern religious uprisings. The diplomatic corps is a pretty closed environment in those countries (as opposed to Europe), with the exception of USAID (RIP), Peace Corps, and certain liaisons within the embassy.

9

Armed intervention is the only way to stop something like this.

…are they? What practical actions are they taking to end the war?

10

We’ve tried armed intervention in several countries in recent years, and the general consensus seems to be that we shouldn’t have gone anywhere near them.