SAVE
DARFUR

Kelli
Spinks

Darfur is a region of
western Sudan. It's divided into three states called West Darfur,
South Darfur, and North Darfur.

The conflict began
when, in early 2003, a rebel group began attacking government
buildings and police stations. They accused the capital of favoring
Arabs over black Africans.

At first there were
only two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). Now, 5 years after this all
started, there are more than a dozen rebel groups attacking the
government.

And the government has
been attacking back. The Janjaweed is a small militia group that
claims to "cleanse" African inhabitants by killing them
off.

After the military
attacks with air raids, the Janjaweed rides into civilian villages
slaughtering the men and raping the women and girls as well as
stealing whatever they can.

There have been
reports of women and young girls being taken captive by the Janjaweed
and held as sex slaves for weeks before being released back to their
non-existent villages that had been destroyed by the Janjaweed.

To escape the torture
and killings, millions have traveled over 300 miles to the
neighboring country of Chad. But Chad is starting to push them back
into Sudan in fear of starting a war with Sudan.

Since this conflict
has started, over 400,000 innocent Darfurian civilians have been
murdered with hundreds being killed everyday.

In July 2004, this
conflict was proposed to the public as genocide by the United States
House of Representatives. Genocide is defined as "deliberate and
systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or
cultural group". Although the Sudanese government denies their
wrong-doing as a genocide, there's no doubt that that is what's going
on in Darfur.

Even though Darfur is
miles away, there are ways that everyone here in the U.S. can help
for free, no donations required so kids and teens can help too.

By going to the Save
Darfur Coalition's website (savedarfur.org), you can sign up to
receive emails that will be sent to you every time there is a way to
help. All you have to do is follow the link in the email and it will
take you to a petition page. You just put your name in the box and
press send. You can also enter your friends and family's emails to
get them to help too. You can also see what the presidential
candidates have to say about helping to "Save Darfur".