Darfur refugees educate packed crowd about genocide

From the San Antonio College "Ranger" (thanks to Save Darfur)...

In 2003, the villagers of Tawila in Darfur were awakened at 7 a.m. by an attack from the Janjaweed, a militia serving the Sudanese government, aimed at wiping the people of Darfur off the face of the Earth.

The militia rushed into a girls' school, raping the students inside; some girls were raped multiple times.

The Janjaweed proceeded to raid the markets, stealing goods.

Before they left, the Janjaweed burned the villagers' homes to the ground.

All told, the Janjaweed killed at least 700 people in that one attack.

This was the story of Motasim Adam's home village, [which] he left behind in 2003 when he fled Darfur, a region in western Sudan in Africa, amid the genocide.

Adam told this story [on] Monday to a standing-room-only crowd at Trinity University's Chapman Auditorium as part of "Voices from Darfur," a national university tour by the Save Darfur Coalition.

The "Voices from Darfur" tour is to raise awareness of the genocide.

Daoud Hari, who fled his home village of Musbat in 2003, told his story of trying to inform people by serving as translator to American journalists.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has enacted an unofficial and officially denied policy of genocide using government troops and the Janjaweed militia.

Hari went back to Darfur after fleeing to Chad, and worked as a translator for journalists like The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof and The Chicago Tribune's Paul Salopek.

Hari and Salopek were captured by the Sudanese government [on] Aug. 6, 2006, and imprisoned in a Sudanese prison for espionage.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who is also a Democratic presidential candidate, went to Sudan and negotiated the release of Hari and Salopek, who had been tortured during their monthlong inprisonment.

Hari's troubles did not end there. When he fled to Chad again, he was detained at the airport, and the government of Chad attempted to return him to Sudan.

Hari has since been granted refugee status, and resides in the United States.

Adam, now a New York resident and president of the Darfur People's Association of New York, lives with his wife, but the rest of his family is living in refugee camps in Chad as internally displaced persons within Sudan [sic].

Adam and Hari agree that it is high time that the international community stop debating about what to call the crisis in Darfur - genocide, war crime, ethnic cleansing, crime against humanity - and simply stop the violence.

Adam said [that] China, which has oil interests in Sudan, and Russia, which has arms deals with the Sudanese government, have provided diplomatic cover for Sudan in the U.N. Security Council.

He said [that] China has blocked several U.N. resolutions concerning Darfur and [has] weakened several resolutions that did pass.

Sociology senior Jordan Travis said [that] she is well-known at Trinity as being very involved with the issue of the genocide in Darfur, which has so far claimed the lives of an estimated 400,000 people and [has] turned 2.5 million people into refugees, according to the Save Darfur Coalition.

When she heard about "Voices from Darfur," she knew [that] she wanted to get the university involved.

She said [that] she worked with Trinity University Volunteer Action Community, of which she is the director of the Social Responsibility Branch, to bring the event to the campus.

For more information on Darfur and the Save Darfur Coalition, visit www.savedarfur.org.

For more information on "Voices from Darfur," visit [www.voicesfromdarfur.org].