Genocide in Darfur is going unnoticed

For more than three years now, a U.S. labeled genocide has been occurring in Sudan, more specifically in the Darfur region. To date, more than 400,000 innocent civilians have been murdered and more than 2.5 million displaced from their homes.

In 2003, two Darurian rebel groups launched an attack against the Khartoum government in response to ongoing poverty and neglect in the region following a civil war. In response, the Khartoum government started deliberately and systematically killing those in Darfur because of their ethnic background.

Since then, the government has armed and trained a supposedly separate militia called the Janjaweed. A few of the Janjaweed's genocidal acts include rape, displacement, organized starvation, threats against aid workers and mass murder.

There has been very limited action by governments to force the Khartoum government to stop supporting the genocide in Darfur. Over the past few years, some groups have sprung up to counter the government's inaction including Safe Darfur (savedarfur.org) and STAND (standnow.org).

About a month ago, a representative from STAND (Student Anti-Genocide Coalition) came and spoke about the situation in Darfur at Sandpoint High School.

In response, a group of students have come together and formed a local STAND chapter of our school. One of the main focuses of STAND is to raise awareness about the situation in Darfur. To raise awareness, we will be writing periodic letters to dive deeper into the issues and current events surrounding Darfur. Anyone interested in getting involved or with questions can e-mail us at sandpointstand@gmail.com.

BRIAN WOLCOTT and

RYAN WILLIAMS

Sandpoint