A people banished to the desert

[gottaB]

Ethnic violence is making a wasteland of Darfur, western Sudan. British author Irvine Welsh sees the tragedy unfolding.

Playing the numbers game is dangerous in this remote, inaccessible area roughly the size of France, but the latest UN estimates - constantly being revised upwards - suggest that around 1.2 million people are now directly affected by the violence in western Sudan.

Out of a population of about six million, at least 700 000 Darfur residents are living in camps or have fled to villages to stay with families or friends, and neighbouring Chad is currently home to more than 100 000 refugees.

Skirmishes between government troops and the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) cannot begin to explain this level of displacement. Only an understanding of the changing relationship between Khartoum, the Arab militia who have come to be known as the Janjaweed and the African farmers can do this.

A people banished to the desert....

[aquart]

1. Liebensraum.

It isn't the first time it's happened.

Wake me when someone thinks they know how to fix it.

[enki23]

2. room to love?

;-)