Discussion: Humanitarian Justice in Darfur
After reading the below article, can you please tell me:
Should humanitarian concerns take priority over justice in Darfur? Why or why not?
Responding to the Remnants of Genocide
Darfur is a barren, mountainous region in western Sudan, which is south of the Sahara. Arabs (largely nomads) and Black villagers (some of whom are also Muslim) generally lived in peace unit non-Arab tribes joined together to rebel against the Sudanese government in 2003. Sudanese authorities in the capital of Khartoum retaliated by arming militias - the Janjaweed - and turning them loose to empty the region of African civilians. The Janjaweed, equipped with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, overwhelmed local patrols armed with bows and arrows and spears. They then engaged in an orgy of rape, killing and looting, leaving nothing but corpses and smoldering ashes in their wake. Between 300,000 and 400,000 people died in the region, and 3 million fled to refugee camps. The number of deaths dropped dramatically after six years, not due to the intervention of world governments, but largely because there were so few civilians left to murder. "Remnants of genocide" remain, however, as displaced Sudanese struggle to survive and rival Arab militias and rebel groups battle one another. At the same time, civil was in southern Sudan (ended through a peace settlement) threatens to reignite.
The humanitarian crisis in Darfur sparked a massive relief effort. Ten thousand aid workers from the United Nations and 13 other humanitarian.