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| The village of Kokoba, whose inhabitants were forced from their homes before they were burnt to the ground (Steidle) |
Genocides like the Holocaust are committed behind closed doors. The victims were forcibly relocated to concentration camps, kept away from the public, starved to death, and eventually executed. The killings in Darfur, however, were carried out in broad daylight. The Sudanese government didn’t even attempt to cover up its horrific actions. When a report surfaced confirming 100 innocent civilians were killed by a Sudanese fighter jet’s air strike in non-combat zone, a UN spokeswoman said “…100 casualties is 100 too many, be they wounded or dead," (Boston). Estimates of the death toll are widely disputed; the Sudanese government puts civilian casualty estimates below 10,000 while UN experts approximate the toll to around 400,000. Add to that another one to three million citizens displaced both internally and into the neighboring countries of Chad and the Central African Republic. The region of Darfur is estimated to only contain about six million inhabitants, meaning that up to half of the entire population in the area is either dead or displaced. Askia Muhammad, sitting in on an interview of President Omar al-Bashir, reports, “Western, so-called “experts” say an estimated 200,000 to even 400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in Darfur since 2003. The true number is closer to 9,000, stated Pres. Bashir.” (Muhammad). In the end, the claims of Sudanese officials hold no weight when stacked up against the overwhelming casualty reports and massive refugee camps.
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| Approx. 7,000 refugees flocked to Menawashi, Darfur in a few days (Steidle) |
