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COPYRIGHT 2004 Economist Newspaper Ltd.
A campaign of destruction, looting, rape and murder by government-backed militiamen in the Darfur region of Sudan is now leading to a widespread famine. There are fears that up to 1m may die. America and the UN have sent top officials to press the government to rein in the militia and let aid workers in. If not, sanctions may follow
THE horrors of western Sudan are distant and under-reported, but no less real for that. To crush a revolt by black Africans in the Darfur region, Sudan's Arab-dominated government has armed the janjaweed, an Arab militia, and instructed it to kill, rape and terrorise civilians who, being black, are presumed to sympathise with the rebels. As many as 30,000 may already have died and an estimated 1.2m people have been driven from their homes. Some have fled into Chad, but most are stuck in fetid camps within Darfur, where famine looms. The...
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