Local: Darfur peace march planned to raise awareness
Grant Petersen, The Peak
It all started in early 2003. A rebel group started attacking government targets in Sudan, alleging that they were oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs. It has since exploded into one of the worst humanitarian crises in human history. Many people have died and many more have fled their homes because of this conflict, and it shows no sign of slowing down.
Clement Abas Apaak, former SFSS president and founder of Canadian Students For Darfur, is trying to bring to light the situation in Darfur, the Western region of Sudan most affected by the crisis. Apaak and CSFDarfur have organized a walk “to raise awareness and money for Oxfam to meet basic needs of 800,000 of the over three million refugees in camps in Darfur and Chad.”
Raising awareness is crucial for this crisis, as there are many barriers preventing the public from fully taking notice. The media here has been hampered by the Sudanese government, which has denied access to certain areas. It’s also hard to get the information ingrained into the more ratings-driven mainstream media. Apaak notes that it’s not a ratings booster because couch potatoes don’t have a whole lot of interest in Africa. They will more likely be interested in stories like Iraq, presumably because it hits closer to home in the sense that there are Western soldiers losing their lives in a controversial war.
In Darfur, however, there is not much of a Western presence. Apaak wants Canada to put pressure on the Sudanese government, and to send Canadian troops to aid the inadequate Sudanese security forces in protecting the refugees from the Janjaweed and other violent groups.
“Canada seems reluctant to play the leadership role,” Apaak says, but activists such as Senator Roméo Dallaire, the Force Commander in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, continue to push the government to action. Apaak mentions that the Paul Martin government was performing adequately, but not spectacularly, in the face of this crisis, but that the new Stephen Harper government has been very ineffective, so the issue needs to be pressed now more than ever.
Unfortunately, Canada may not have a sufficient number of troops to aid in the peace process in Darfur, as we have previous and daunting commitments in Afghanistan. Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor has already stated to the Senate that “we would be challenged to take anything else on,” but if there happens to be an international force that is assembled, Canada’s navy and air force would be able to participate.
The Darfur conflict hasn’t yet reached the horrific number of deaths that the Rwandan genocide has (the Associated Press estimates that “more than 180,000 people have died and 2 million have been made homeless since the [Darfur] conflict began.”), but many are in agreement that it will undoubtedly reach these proportions if we continue to do nothing.
After such horrific events as the Rwandan and Cambodian genocides, the phrase “never again” is usually uttered with passionate meaning, but Apaak calls that phrase deceitful, because when something like Darfur comes along, we do nothing to stop it. Apaak, being born into a multitribal background, has learned from personal experience that tensions can arise because of differences, but he has also learned that these tensions can be relieved by highlighting what brings people together, instead of what tears them apart.
Notables such as Burnaby Douglas MP Bill Siksay and Senator Mobina Jaffer, who was the Special Envoy to the Peace Process in Sudan for four years, will speak at the event. Apaak wants you to plead your case to the government, to let them know that it’s an issue that matters, and to bring awareness to people still in the dark on this crisis.
Registration for the Darfur Peace Walk starts at 9:00 a.m. at the Seaforth Peace Flame Park (south end of Burrard Bridge). The actual walk takes place at noon, and ends at 1:30 p.m. at Sunset Beach, where the festivities continue on until around 4:00 p.m. Walkers are asked to donate at least five dollars to the cause. More information can be found on http://csfdarfur.net.