Darfur: it's more complicated than you think

Posted By Blake Hounshell Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 1:00 PM Share

As Mark Leon Goldberg notes, Mark Helprin's call for a strategic bombing campaign against the Sudanese regime (or at least the threat of one) is bizarrely out of touch with present realities on the ground in Darfur:

Ever since the Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2005, the conflict has proliferated from the government and janjaweed vs three distinct rebel groups to a conflict that pits a panoply of over 15 rebel groups fighting the government, former janjaweed, each other, and sometimes humanitarian workers and peacekeepers. Some of the janjaweed have joined the regular Sudanese armed forces, some have joined the rebels.

We like to impose a narrative of "good guys" vs. "bad guys" in such situations, but sometimes there are only bad guys vs. bad guys -- and the innocent people caught in the middle.

EXPLORE:AFRICA, MILITARY

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SAVOHELETA

10:01 AM ET

April 2, 2008

what about helicopters for UNAMID?

The international community canâ€™t find 24 helicopters for the UNAMID mission so they can start protecting civilians in Darfur, yet there are some who would like to bomb Sudan.

Even though NATO members together possess over 18,000 military helicopters, Western countries that like to promote "human rights" and "democracy" around the world could not give at least one helicopter for Darfur.

At the same time, they are willing to spend billions on Bosnia and Kosovo.

This shows that, in the eyes of the Western leaders, some people are more important than others.

SAVO HELETA
Author of "Not My Turn to Die:
Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia"
http://www.savoheleta.com

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