Article & Journal Resources

If the current Arab public opinion about the ongoing human catastrophe in Darfur continuous as it is, it may with time turn into nothing less than voluntary blindfolding about what happens to thousands of innocent victims. And, though the popular and most recognized private satellite news channels like “Al Jazeera” and Al Arabia” continue to provide an acceptable level of media coverage about the massacres, racial discrimination and outright human right abuses as they continue to be committed by Arab “Janjaweed” militia; however, the Arab public opinion these news channels address and due, various reasons such as misconception and lack of interest, remains uninterested in reacting positively to the crisis.

Some of the reasons that may explain this noticeable apathy in the Arab world toward the Darfur catastrophe are: the continuation of a widely popular belief in the Arab world that the Darfur conflict is nothing more than a local issue in Sudan. In addition, due to the involvement of many Western Humanitarian Organizations coupled with continuous efforts by many Western governments to help the Darfurian refugees is perceived by a large portion of Arab public opinion as yet another apparent “Western intervention” in an Arab country’s affairs. However, it is necessary for many Arab readers, viewers and observers of the current situation in Darfur to become self-informed about the escalating humanitarians crisis if they wish to contribute in easing the suffering of Darfurians.

It has become a trite expression that “what happens in Darfur is a local Sudanese matter.” Nevertheless, United Nation statistics and reports and continuous Western media coverage of the crisis have made it very clear that the human toll of the Darfur’s catastrophe is turning to become an African Holocaust. In fact, according to United Nation sources, more than 200,000 Darfurians have lost their lives since 2003 (source: BBC-Journal of Science-September 2006). The conflict began in 2003 between the largely African native population of Darfur (mostly farmers) and some nomadic Arab tribes over land and grazing rights. The crisis however has escalated since 2003 leading to the fleeing of around 2 million Darfurians to refugee camps scattered along the Sudanese border and in neighboring Chad.

Currently, around 7000 of African Union soldiers are providing insufficient protection to the Darfurian refugees. Recently, however, the UN has started deploying 26,000 international peacekeeping forces from Thailand, Sweden, Nepal and Norway to replace the existing African troops. According to the UN, the Sudanese government is not cooperating fully with the deployment of the international peacekeeping troops which is scheduled for full deployment in the region by January 2008.

The Darfur crisis has become an international issue and not merely a local Sudanese issue. Moreover, the primary player in ending this crisis is the UN along with its humanitarian organizations in addition to numerous Western non-governmental organizations. In other words, the current general Arab public opinion about what is happening in Darfur is wrong because there is not really any foreign military intervention which can threaten the sovereignty of Sudan. Instead, the 260,000 strong international troops have a specific UN mandate which is to provide enough protection for the refugees along the border of Chad while helping humanitarian organizations in their continuous effort to ease the suffering of Darfurians.

It is only through individual efforts that Arab public opinion can clear up what can be considered as an inherent biased position toward the UN and Western humanitarian organization’s role in the Darfur crisis. This Arab public opinion however is based on misrepresented facts, lack of Arab media coverage (with the exception of Aljazeera and Alarabya) and outright apathy about what is really happening in Western Sudan. Keeping yourself informed about the Darfur’s catastrophe may become the first step you need to take to help other human beings who are currently in a dire situation!

Khaledaljenfawi@yahoo.com

By Khaled Aljenfawi