Aggies host event to increase awareness of killings in Africa
More than 400,000 people have died in a conflict of which few Americans are aware.
But thanks to the work of Aggies for Africa, USU students are becoming more knowledgeable about the conflict in Darfur, a region in Sudan.
More than 200 people attended the Darfur Conflict Awareness Panel that was hosted on Tuesday by Aggies for Africa.
“In Darfur, 10,000 to 15,000 people die every month. That’s another 9/11 every week, another Hurricane Katrina every five days,” said Ashley Linford, president of Aggies for Africa.
Dani Babbel, president of Amnesty International at USU, said, “We want to first and foremost inform students not only of the severity of the conflict but also the background issues. Then, inspire students to get involved and to pursue avenues to do something about it. Also to form ideas for a solution.”
Members of the panel included Yared Fubusa, a graduate student at USU from Tanzania; Tiffany Ivins who has traveled around the world working with refugees and USU Professors Chris Conte and Peter Mentzel.
They discussed the origins of the conflict, common misconceptions about it and how students could help resolve the situation that many are now calling genocide.
The panel agreed the violence was not the result of religious differences. Mentzel said the people of Darfur are overwhelmingly Muslim and known for their religious devotion.
“A lot of people, I think, are under the impression that the problem in Darfur is a religious conflict. We can rule out, pretty definitely, it having anything to do with Islam,” Mentzel said.
Calling the genocide the result of differing religious beliefs is a “cop out to a very complex conflict,” Ivins said.
Mentzel and Conte suggested the clash might be an extension of leadership and territorial battles earlier in Sudan’s history.
Fubusa, however, believes the reasons behind the conflict are easier to define, blaming resources and race.
“You have to wonder-if this happened in Europe to people with blond hair and blue eyes, would the response have been different? I believe so,” Fubusa said. “This is not complex. That is language of excuse. If we can go to the moon, why can’t you stop something as small as genocide? Once you acknowledge it as genocide, you have to act.”
Mentzel disagreed, believing the problem is more complicated and has a more complex background.
“In some ways, it is a little misleading when frequently cast as a racial problem. That doesn’t get us very far,” Mentzel.
Members of the panel blame the international community for allowing the violence to escalate to the point of genocide. To help with put an end to the massacre, they suggested increasing awareness of the situation in Darfur, donating money to organizations and writing to politicians.
“Corporations don’t have citizenship. They don’t have a human face. How do you begin to talk? Talk to the government,” Fubusa said. “I am not going to romanticize genocide. Be serious. People are being killed as we speak.”
When the United States sneezes, the whole world catches fever, Fubusa said. If the United States would act, the whole world would follow suit.
Conte also said President Bush must be held responsible because he has allowed the mass killing to continue under his leadership. He said he has heard reports that Bush has been unwilling to intervene because Sudan is thought to have once housed Osama bin Laden.
“What can you do just as a citizen of the United States? Pressure the Bush administration to do something,” Conte said. “Bush ignored the problem. This has happened on his watch.”
Ivins also said one of the best solutions to end the violence is to work from the ground up, changing the mindset of those in Darfur.
“A lot is fueled by youth who believe in revolution. The people on the ground, civilians like ourselves, can create great change of great tragedy,” Ivins said.
All four members of the panel said the number of students who attended the event surprised them, but they were excited to see such interest.
“I think the notion we are ignorant is apt, so I am glad to see so many of you here. We need more knowledge,” Conte said.
Amnesty International and USU’s chapter of the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition hosted the event. Together, the groups are Aggies for Africa, Babbel said.
For more information about Aggies for Africa, contact Linford at standusu@gmail.com.
-ariek@cc.usu.edu