Darfur is a corrupt and dangerous government – the issue is not genocide

[zimdog]

I'm saying that religion and political opposition to the government are the main reason why people are being killed.

If we accept your reasoning for the moment, how are people identified in Darfur as religious or political opponents?

[Wuli]

As the article pointed out:

"The largest communion present in Darfur is the Roman Catholic Church, with 143,000 adherents. People also belong to the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, the Sudan Pentecostal Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, and the Episcopal Church of the Sudan."

That means that given even a miniscule 17,000 for other Christians in Darfur (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, though I don't have any legitimate reason to), the Christians in Darfur comprise a minium of 6% of the 2.5 million displaced and or under attack there. Yes, that is smaller than the Muslim's under attack - so what.

Why is the size of the Christian population there, and your need to minimize it, so important to you?

[Wuli]

Other than the fact that those doing the "elimination" are Arab Muslims of Sudan, and most of those being "eliminated" are black Africans of Sudan?

That's not race based?

Of course in this age of total political correctness, the media and even those advocating for the victims in Sudan try not to remind anyone of the completely separate ethnic identity of the groups supported by the government of Sudan versus the ethnic identity of those they are killing.

In spite of that political correctness, it is predominately Arab Sudanese supported by the government and black African Sudanese who are not supported by the government of Sudan in Darfur. The politics of it all may be recent, the ethnic differences, and the rivalries between the ethnic groups are not. Only now, the government has taken sides and the side they have taken is winning and the losses comprise a humanitarian disaster, which may eventually equal Rwanda.

Were the Sudan government nuetral and trying to help resolve it, it would not be able to reach the level of tragedy it has, or that it will yet have. That is why other governments are getting involved. Sudan's lack of nuetrality represents a government's supreme failure to its own people.

[zimdog]

Sorry, I misread your post, substituting "Sudan" for "Darfur" there. I haven't seen those numbers before but I see no reason for them to be wrong. Evangelical congregations in Africa are often described with inflated figures but the Catholic Church's records are very reliable. Given that, I would assume that most of these Christians are in Southern Darfur, probably, no?

I have no desire to minimize the Christian population's visibility in Darfur but I do resent posts on Darfur threads that paint Darfur as a land of oppressed Christians that need to be armed against the bloodthirsty Muslim hordes. Something about their tone makes me think that they would be less willing to work to keep Muslims from being murdered and that's an attitude I find very un-Christian.

[zimdog]

not you, of course, but others. your contributions here are valuable and should be greatly appreciated.

[Wuli]

Thanks.

Sometimes it helps when we speak plainly to start with, and then our real concerns are more apparent.

You might be partially correct, or more correct than some will admit; I am really not sure.

Here is why.

The Christian groups working in Darfur have been there a long time, but not in the numbers they are now until the Christian Sudanese in the Southern Sudan starting trekking across to regions like Darfur to get away from the slaughter they were experiencing in Southern Sudan.

It might be true, that had the Christian Sudanese that Christian groups had been helping in Southern Sudan not expanded their prescence and refuge in Darfur, there may not have been as forceful of a Christian witness coming from Darfur.

One would not like that is true, but I see your point.

If you had a Lexis-Nexus account and the time, you could probably track the human rights reports from the Christian groups working in Sudan, for the last 12 years, and see if their own reporting of their concerns about Darfur have equated to the time frame of the migration to Darfur of groups they started supporting in Southern Sudan, and not before. That would tend to confirm or refute your concerns.

We should pray you are wrong.