| Eisa Gumaa fears his mother, father and seven siblings will die before the international community takes action to end the conflict in Darfur.
Currently his family is "staying in the trees" after having fled their village when it was burned down by the janjaweed, an Arab militia that is supported by the Sudanese government. They are getting a small amount of food from a United Nations (UN) food program, but they don’t even have tents to sleep in. If they return to their village they will be killed and the women would be raped, says Gumaa.
The conflict in Darfur has been raging for three years and despite a peace agreement signed in May between the Sudanese government and a rebel group from Darfur, the UN reports that violence is once again escalating. Two million people have been displaced and an estimated 200,000 people have been killed.
There are currently 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in the country but the Sudanese government says it will ask them to leave by the end of September. The UN has passed a resolution to send in 17,000 soldiers and three UN policemen to restore peace in the country, but the Sudanese government is opposed to a UN peacekeeping force entering the country.
"Nobody can describe the situation in Darfur. People, they are just waiting to die," says Gumaa. "We want to see UN troops on Darfur soil because they may save some people from dying."
Canada recently provided $40 million in humanitarian aid to aid groups in Darfur. The federal government has also provided military equipment as well as military expertise to the African Union peacekeeping force.
However, Gumaa and other Calgarians originally from Darfur want to see Canada actually commit peacekeeping troops to the UN mission.
"We need to see Canada do much more for Darfur," says Gumaa.
Gumaa says financial aid isn’t enough right now because aid organizations aren’t able to access large parts of Darfur and in the last three months 12 aid workers have been killed.
Gumaa is frustrated with the lack of action from the international community to stop what UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has described as "the world’s worst humanitarian disaster."
Gumaa points out that the international community steps in much faster to end conflicts in other parts of the world.
"The problem with Israel and Lebanon, it only took two or three weeks and the (international community) fixed it," he says.
Gamal Adam is also originally from Darfur and his mother, four sisters, two brothers and four half-sisters are still in the country. Some of his family is living out in the open in a mountainous area without access to any humanitarian aid. The village his family is from was attacked by the janjaweed seven times and 150 members of the community were killed including three of his brother -in-law.
Adam says he has been writing to the federal government since 2002 outlining the situation in Darfur and urging Canada to "play more of a role in putting pressure on the Sudanese government to stop these atrocities."
September 17 is the Global Day for Darfur during which peace activists from around the world will stage protests about the lack of action on the Darfur conflict. There will be a demonstration in Calgary at 1 p.m. on September 17 at the Harry Hays Federal Building.
Calgary MLA David Swann has been calling for more federal government action on Darfur since the conflict began and has been involved in organizing various activist events around the issue.
"I think we’re rapidly approaching the last opportunity to stop this genocide and Canadians, Calgarians included, are increasingly angry that our leadership is not stepping up and making things happen."
Swann says Canada should offer to lead a peacekeeping mission in the country if the UN and NATO can’t make it happen.
However, he acknowledges that Canada’s military is currently "stretched" due to the mission in Afghanistan. |
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