Showing posts with label genocide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genocide. Show all posts

Monday, April 26, 2010

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Wins Election! Genocide? What Genocide?

Sometimes it's appropriate to let bygones be bygones. Sometimes, not.

Take the example of a small country whose military ruler likes to be called "president," and who had an election recently to prove his point. Several years ago, natives in a backward part of this small country dropped dead in large numbers. Rather abruptly, in many cases.

"Genocide" is such a harsh word. And, just because the International Court indicted this gentleman regarding those dead natives: well, can't we just forget the past and move on?

Looks like that's what's happening.

And I'm not comfortable about the situation. At all.

'Genocide' is Such a Harsh Word

The small country is Sudan. The leader is Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. He won an election recently. The official poll numbers say so.

The BBC didn't, as far as I could tell, mention the little matter of dead natives in the Darfur region on Sudan. CNN did, in the 14th paragraph of their article:
"...Al-Bashir, a former military officer who took power in a bloodless coup in 1989, has been indicted over allegations of war crimes by the International Criminal Court...." (14th paragraph, CNN)
Genocide? CNN didn't bring up that little matter. It's such a harsh word, anyway.

Besides, it's those Americans who claim that lots of black people dropping dead in Sudan was genocide:
"...When rebels took up arms in Darfur, he armed militias to crush the uprising, unleashing a wave of violence Washington still calls genocide -- a charge dismissed by Khartoum...."
(Reuters)
The concentration camps? Hey, those kids were "rebels" who "took up arms" - and besides, it's the American government that's fussing about it. 'Everybody knows' what those Americas are like.

And anyway, they weren't called "concentration camps." Millions of people were displaced - a nice way of saying "forced out of their homes" - and humanitarian aid was easier to deliver if the refugees were mostly in a few places. Then, convoys carrying food and other supplies to the camps were attacked.

Genocide, Oppression, and All That

Not everybody is on the same page as the American government, when it comes to that little oopsie in Sudan. News, quoted in an earlier post, from 2008:
"Sudan President's Arrest Sought by ICC Over Darfur (Update5)"
Bloomberg (July 14, 2008)

"The International Criminal Court's prosecutor is seeking the arrest of Sudan's President Umar al- Bashir, alleging he bears 'criminal responsibility' for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur....

"...The ICC is the only permanent tribunal for prosecuting individuals responsible for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world. Its first judges were installed in 2003.

"The ICC has approved 12 arrest warrants that resulted in the custody of four people, said Dicker.

"The court was modeled on temporary tribunals set up to try war crime cases stemming from conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia as well as the first such trials held in the German city of Nuremberg after World War II...."
CNN wasn't quite as reticent about that little matter of genocide back then:
"CNN exclusive: ICC prosecutor on Darfur charges"
CNN (July 14, 2008)

"The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide in a five-year campaign of violence in the country's Darfur region. Luis Moreno-Ocampo spoke exclusively to CNN's Nic Robertson ahead of his announcement on Monday of the charges.

"Nic Robertson: What exactly are you accusing President Bashir of?

"Luis Moreno-Ocampo: We request a warrant for the crime of genocide -- 6a, b and c -- basically massive rapes and the condition of 2.5 million people -- in addition we charged him with crimes against humanity and war crimes.

"Q. For genocide though -- attempt to destroy an ethnic group in whole or in part -- which is an intent -- how do you prove intent?..."

"Sudanese president charged with genocide"
CNN (July 14, 2008)

"The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has filed genocide charges against Sudan's president for a five-year campaign of violence in Darfur.

"Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Monday urged a three-judge panel to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to prevent the deaths of about 2.5 million people forced from their homes in the war-torn region of Darfur and who are still under attack from government-backed Janjaweed militia...."
Not everybody sees what happened in Sudan quite the same way, though:
"Arab parliament slams ICC move against Sudanese president "
Xinhua (July 15, 2008)

"The Interim Arab Parliament (IAP) on Monday criticized the plan of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in Darfur, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported.

"The IAP is 'amazed and dismayed' by reports of the ICC move, which is stirring Arab nations' concern, head of the parliament Mohamed Jassem al-Saqr said in a statement.

"The ICC move raises the fear that the international court could become a tool of major world powers to intimidate smaller countries, al-Saqr was quoted as saying...."
Well, we wouldn't want those "major world powers" to get in the way of national leaders purging their lands of people they don't like, would we?

Seriously, the possibility of a judicial system used for coercive purposes is real. But I think the Interim Arab Parliament might have chosen a better paragon to defend.

Still, with Saudi Arabia setting the standard of excellence for Islamic nations - - - well, that's another topic.

Islam has No Monopoly on Whack Jobs

This would be a good time to highlight a post that's in the "related posts" section:Related posts:In the news:
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Rwandan Genocide Priest: Terrorism is an Equal-Opportunity Destroyer

A reminder that terrorists, and terrorism, isn't limited to men who order women to shake it (October 21, 2009) and destroy unbelievers - along with the occasional mosque.
"Clergyman linked to Rwandan genocide seized in Italy"
CNN (October 22, 2009)

"A Rwandan accused of 'complicity' in the massacre of students at the college he headed during the country's genocide 15 years ago has been arrested in Italy, where he served as a clergyman, an international police agency said.

"Officers from the Italian Carabinieri and Interpol's National Central Bureau in Rome, Italy, arrested Emmanuel Uwayezu -- who had been wanted in Rwanda, the international police organization Interpol said Wednesday in a news release.

"Uwayezu, 47, is accused of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. He is in Italian custody and is awaiting extradition to Rwanda.

"According to Interpol's statement, the Rwandan arrest warrant says Uwayezu was alleged 'to have acted individually and as part of a conspiracy to plan and commit genocide by instigating Hutus to kill Tutsis in the area of Gikongoro, as director of the Groupe Scolaire Marie Merci college in Kibeho.'..."
Granted, "genocide" isn't exactly "terrorism."

"Terrorism," as generally used these days, means "the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear". (Princeton's WordNet)

"Genocide" is the "systematic killing of a racial or cultural group". (Princeton's WordNet) Not quite the same thing.

Still, accounts by people who escaped the national socialist's purging of non-Aryans - and one who didn't (see The Diary of Anne Frank) suggest that having your friends, family - and yourself - hunted down is a 'terrifying' experience. In some respects, at any rate. So I don't think that post involving one of the African genocides is all that much off-topic in this blog.

'Hutus? Tutsis? Never Heard of Them'

Not all that many people - outside central Africa - probably have.


View Larger Map

Hutus were living in the lands between Lake Kivu and Lake Ihema about 500 years ago, when Tutsis moved in. European oppressors weren't involved.1 People around the world seem quite capable of getting into trouble with each other, with no outside help.

The Tutsis were controlling the area - and the Hutus - when Europeans arrived.

By the way, I'm sort of ignoring the Twa - who at this point number about 1% of the Rwandan population. The Twa are pygmies, and well under the radar as far as the Hutu-Tutsi conflict are concerned.

The area occupied by Hutu and their Tutsi rulers was so far inland that Europeans didn't get there until the 19th century. After a bit of wrangling, Germany got control of the place in 1885. Belgians and British wanted the place too, or at least pieces of it.

Then, after the end of The War to End All Wars, the (victorious) leaders of Europe, and American President Wilson, drew up the Treaty of Versailles: establishing national boundaries with the sort of heady self-confidence that seems to have been in vogue at the time.

World War II and a century of smaller conflicts might suggest that Versailles wasn't such a good idea, after all.

The treaty, I mean. The Palace, grounds, and town are a magnificent example of 16th- and 17th century city planning and architecture.

Back to Hutus and Tutsis

I suppose that, since the Tutsis were ruling the Hutus at the time, it's understandable that the Europeans regarded them as superior to the Hutus - and ran the area under that assumption.

The Hutus, apparently, didn't like the situation. It's possible to see the Rwandan genocide(s) as a sort of payback. Which isn't to say that I approve. At all.

Resources in the "Background" links, below, give a little more detail about what happened in that part of Africa, and the people who live there.

"The" Rwandan genocide happened in 1994, when about 800,000 people were killed in about 100 days. They weren't all Tutsis: some moderate Hutu were deemed unfit to live, too. Around 2,000,000 surviving Hutus fled to Zaire - which now goes by the name "Democratic Republic of the Congo."

You can't have that many people moving around, without causing a bit of animosity. "Ethnic strife and civil war" led to Zaire's Colonel Joseph Mobutu defeat. He'd run the country since 1965, re-naming it Zaire. Laurent Kabila was the next ruler. He re-named the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Other warriors challenged him in 1998. Kabila was assassinated in 2001, with his son succeeding him as ruler. (CIA)

I gather that the Congo Free State Belgian Congo Republic of the Congo Zaire Democratic Republic of the Congo's head of state is called a president. That's a pretty common title these days - but the methods used to determine leadership remind me of the 'good old days,' when my forebears discussed issues of succession with swords and axes, often as not.

Back in Rwanda, the disagreements between Hutus and Tutsis - and other matters - are, in my opinion, far from settled. (BBC) On the other hand, it looks like Rwanda's people are working their way from settling their differences by fighting, to the somewhat less messy methods many countries use today. They'll probably be successful, sooner or later, in getting up to speed with places like Scotland, Norway, and Germany.

Sooner, if they don't get more 'help' like the Versailles Treaty, in my opinion.

My Outlook for Africa - Short Term and Not-So-Short Term

I've speculated that one reason Europe did as well as it did is that there weren't any major powers 'helping' and 'guiding' the Campbells and the MacDonalds, the Vikings and the Gaels, a thousand years ago.

The odds are very good that I had kinfolk on both sides of the wall at Lindisfarne, and I've got a more personal stake in the thaneship of Cawdor than many.2

But somehow mainland Europe got over the Viking raids. Norway is part of the European Economic Area and the European Free Trade Association, although it's not part of the European Union. And quite a few Irishmen are Vikings - or descended from the northmen. But that's another story.

Africa has produced relatively stable kingdoms and empires before, like Kush, Nubia, Songhay, Mali and Ashanti: and, arguably, ancient Egypt. Hollywood notwithstanding, quite a few of the Pharaohs were as obviously African as I'm obviously European. (ethnically - I was born in North Dakota) Sure, they didn't follow the Geneva Conventions, and didn't have bicameral legislatures. Nobody did, before the 18th and 19th centuries.

With the track record they have, I see no reason why people living in Africa can't cobble together functional national or regional governments that are more-or-less in compliance with international law.

If the Vikings, the Irish, the French and the Germans can manage it, I'd say anybody can.

Emmanuel Uwayezu is One of Those People

There's every indication that Emmanuel Uwayezu is a Catholic priest.

For some, that'll be proof that 'those Catholics' are nasty people who commit genocide. Or, that Emmanuel Uwayezu can't be guilty, because he's a priest.

I'm a Catholic, so I'm a bit biased here. If Emmanuel Uwayezu is guilty of the crimes he's accused of, I hope that he's tried, found guilty, and sanctioned appropriately. Genocide isn't just against international law: it's forbidden by the Church (March 8, 2009, A Catholic Citizen in America)

I don't think Emmanuel Uwayezu's (alleged) involvement in a genocide is connected to his being a Catholic priest, any more than I assume that he arranged for the deaths of enemies of his tribe because he's black. I give people credit for having free will: the capacity to choose whether they will do good or evil.

But, like I said, I'm biased.

Related posts: In the news: Background:
1 Around that time, some Europeans were thrashing out who would control Cawdor Castle.

Although I enjoy the play by that Englishman, Shakespeare, the fact is that Macbeth won the castle fairly, by might of arms. I have a passing interest in the thaneship of Cawdor myself, as the clan Campbell held Cawdor when life got a bit more settled in the region - and hold it, I'm told, to this day.

2 I'd be Thane of Cawdor myself, being descended from the clan Cambell, though not bearing the name: if a sizable fraction of a million people were to drop dead. Not that I'd want the title, not at that price.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Friday, July 11, 2008

Darfur and the United Nations: Something's Happening

The International Criminal Court (ICC) may - or may not - issue a warrant for the arrest of Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. If that happens, it will be the first time that a head of state has been indicted by the ICC while in office.

The Darfur region of Sudan is a mess, and Sudan has been a prime example of weirdly Islamic bullying ("Sudan Defends Islam Against
Blasphemous Teddy Bear" (November 28, 2007)).

I think that what the ICC is expected to do Monday makes sense, and is just.
  • This could be as big a change how global affairs work, as the Magna Carta was, in the way national governments work.
  • Or, it could be a flash in the pan, with little long-term significance.
  • Worse, it could be the start of trouble on a global scale: United Nations leaders, using the authority of the ICC and the power of 'peacekeepers,' to purge ideologically impure regimes from the world - or turn a profit, making the Oil for Food scandal look like stealing petty cash.
I'm no huge fan of the United Nations. My opinion is that the delegates and officials of the global body are just as human and prone to weakness as anyone else. And almost a half-century of United Nations squabbles has done nothing to change that opinion.

However, it's the closest thing we've got to a global legal authority that's competent to deal with situations like Darfur.

I think it's time to give the rule of law a test-run on the global stage.

In the news:
  • "Ambassador: Sudanese president may be charged with genocide"
    CNN (July 11, 2008)
  • "ICC prosecutor likely to name Sudan's Bashir-UN envoy"
    Reuters (July 11, 2008)
    • "UNITED NATIONS, July 11 (Reuters) - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is likely to seek the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in a new war crimes case he will open on Darfur on Monday, a senior European envoy said on Friday.
    • "The prosecution said in a statement on Thursday Luis Moreno-Ocampo would submit to judges "evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years" and seek to charge an individual or individuals but gave no details.
    • "Sudan has said any such move could undermine the peace process in Darfur and aid officials fear a potential backlash. The Darfur investigation also could embarrass China, Sudan's close ally, just weeks before the start of the Beijing Olympics...."
    • "China has advised Sudan to cooperate with U.N. efforts to resolve the Darfur crisis but has faced Western criticism as Khartoum's biggest arms supplier and for not using its oil and investment stakes to press harder for an end to the conflict.
  • "Sudan condemns UN Darfur attack"
    BBC (July 10, 2008)
    • "...Sudan's foreign ministry condemned the attack, and urged Western governments to deal more firmly with Darfur rebels.
    • "UN officials have said they suspect the government-backed Janjaweed militia were responsible for the assault, which also left 22 troops wounded...."
  • "ICC to seek arrest of Sudan's Beshir: report"
    AFP (July 11, 2008)
    • "THE HAGUE (AFP) — Prosecutors on the International Criminal Court will seek an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir next week for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, reports said Friday.
    • "ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will request the warrant on Monday in the first-ever bid before The Hague-based tribunal to charge a sitting head of state with war crimes, said the Washington Post, citing diplomats and UN officials...."
    • "UN officials in Sudan said the Janjaweed -- state-backed Arab militia -- were suspected of carrying out the attack, while Sudan's government blamed the attack on rebels in Darfur.
    • "According to the Washington Post, representatives of the UN Security Council's five permanent members -- China, Britain, the United States, France and Russia -- met UN officials Thursday on the safety of Darfur peacekeepers in the wake of the attack...."
    • "Beshir's regime has refused to allow the deployment of Nepalese, Scandinavian and Thai soldiers and remains reluctant about any non-African troops reinforcing the mission.
    • "In talks with UN Security Council ambassadors in Khartoum last month, after Moreno-Ocampo accused the Sudan state apparatus of war crimes in Darfur, Beshir slammed what he called a vicious campaign against his country.
    • "Sudan rejects the ICC's jurisdiction and refuses to surrender two war crimes suspects already named.
    • "NGO Human Rights Watch said the possibility of Beshir's arrest was 'very exciting'.
    • "If the rumours were true, 'for us this is what the institution was created for ... the fight against impunity' at the highest level, spokeswoman Geraldine Mattioli told journalists in The Hague...."
Update July 11, 2008
Another news link:
"Sudan Leader To Be Charged With Genocide"
Washington Post (July 11, 2008)
(Link provided by cooper in a comment on "Darfur - Heads Up!" (BlogCatalog discussion thread, started July 11, 2008)))
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Dead Armenians, Peeved Turks, and Congress

The American House of Representatives, in a remarkable display of international solidarity and moral rectitude, voted to join 21 other nations in recognizing the first major genocide of the 20th century.

Just one problem. The genocidal country is Turkey. And the Turkish government doesn't like to be reminded about one of the dying Ottoman Empire's last gasps. In fact, Turkey would just as soon have everyone accept the official Turkish version of events.

International Relations: Nothing's Ever Simple

Today, over two thirds of the cargo, and about a third of the fuel, heading for American forces in Iraq go through or over Turkey. And, Turkey provides water to U.S. bases in northern Iraq.

All of which makes the good will of Turkey important.

And, right now, a little hard to maintain, thanks to the House of Representatives doing something decent.

Turkey's ambassador to America is back in Turkey, for at least a week of discussions. At least, that's what a Turkish official said.

Background: The Armenian genocide in Turkey

1,500,000 of the 2,500,000 (Christian) Armenians in the Ottoman Empire just happened to die, unexpectedly, during WWI (1915-1916), with mop-up clusters of death running as late as 1923 or so.

Survivors say that it was a genocidal operation. Eyewitnesses say it was a genocide. So do scholars who study genocides.

If fact, genocide scholars give the Ottoman Empire credit for the first big genocide of the 20th century. Which makes Turkey an international trend-setter, considering genocidal operations of the 20th century.

Despite this claim to fame, the Turkish government, while admitting that Armenians died, say that there was no genocide, and resent statements to the contrary.

I've thought this is a little odd, since the current Turkish government is the successor of a string of coups and elections dating back to 1923. That's when Mustafa Kemal led Turkey out of the mess left by Turkey's Ottoman Empire.

Back to the Present

America went through something like this back in 2000, with the resolution going nowhere after the White House said that it would hurt American security. And no, I don't think this is evidence that the 9/11 (2001) attack was an American plot.

I do, however, think that it's ironic, and moderately disgusting, that in order to deal with Islamic fanatics, it's necessary to cooperate with a Muslim country's secular government.

Countries Acknowledging the Armenian Genocide,
One way or another

  • Argentina
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Cyprus
  • France
  • Greece
  • Italy
  • Lebanon
  • Lithuania
  • The Netherlands
  • Poland
  • Russia
  • Slovakia
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Uruguay
  • Vatican City
  • Venezuela
  • Wales
A pinch of salt is appropriate when someone claims to be glad to admit mistakes, but in this case, I really am. In a previous post, "Ahmadinejad's Plan for Peace: Banish the Jews to Alaska" (October 7, 2007), I wrote that academics would probably regard the Armenian Exodus as a disputed claim. Researching today's post, I found that the Armenian Exodus is generally accepted as a real event.

Facts from
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Unique, innovative candles


Visit us online:
Spiral Light Candle  • Find a Retailer
• Spiral Light Candle Store

Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.