Unit 4: Watching, but still Waiting

I. Background knowledge
 Where is Darfur? Sudan is one of the largest countries in Africa. Located in
northeastern Africa, it borders the Red Sea and falls between Egypt, Chad,
Uganda, and six other countries. The capitol, Khartoum, is in the northeastern part
of the country. Darfur is a region in western Sudan that encompasses an area
roughly the size of Spain. The name Darfur is from "dar fur" which in Arabic
means "the land of the Fur".
 The origin of the Darfur war: Darfur has historically been one of the most remote
regions of Sudan. Even in normal circumstances, the region is hard to reach
because it is so far from the capital, Khartoum. Tribal and ethnic conflicts are
neither new nor uncommon. Darfur is home to some 80 tribes and ethnic groups
divided between nomads and sedentary communities. The rebels seem to be drawn
from within mainly three communities of the Fur, Masalit and the Zaghawa tribes.
 Incidents of both small and large scale conflicts are recorded as far back as 1939
and they generally arise from disputes over access to natural resources like range
lands and water points as well as livestock trespassing (grazing on farm lands),
closure of herd routes and cattle raiding. Larger conflicts normally emerge from
tribal disputes, banditry and disputes with transnational migrating communities.
Historically, North Darfur and parts of West and South Darfur have suffered
recurrent droughts. The prolonged drought that began in 1983 drove nomadic
Zaghawa and Arab groups southwards. By the time of the 1989 peace conference,
then several thousand tribesmen had died, tens of thousands had been displaced
and 40,000 homes destroyed. These conflicts have been between nomadic and
sedentary communities, and amongst and within nomadic and pastoralists.
Although the indigenous peoples of Darfur (the Fur, and several other ethnic
groups) and the Arabs have always had relatively distinct identities, they generally
got along well until resources became scarce, then ethnicity and race became a
factor in the conflict.
 In early 2003, two armed groups waged war in Darfur against the Government of
Sudan. These groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM), began the war with attacks on towns, government
facilities and civilians in Darfur. Several hundred policemen were murdered and
more than eighty police stations were destroyed in attacks. This resulted in a
security vacuum which further distorted civil society in Darfur with numerous
communities responding in their own ways. The conflict subsequently spiraled out
of control and has resulted in many deaths and the displacement of hundreds of
thousands of civilians in Sudan. The rebel movements in Darfur have claimed that
they are fighting against underdevelopment and marginalisation. Every part of
Sudan, north, south, east and west is underdeveloped and Darfur has been the
focus of considerable government attention.
 The nature of the war: The war in Darfur was a confrontation of the Arab
Sudanese government in Khartoum with an African population that had been
 suppressed and rebelled by the Sudanese government in 2003. The Khartoum
government was condemned by the world for being turned into The part of the
Arab militia they trained and armed to came to Darfur to persecute the local
population in various forms, from killing to gang rape to subjugating them.
According to UN officials, 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5
million people have been displaced by their homes. The Sudanese government
has rejected and argued that these figures are overblown.
In the past, African peasants allowed Arab nomads to graze camels and sheep
on their land, in exchange for fertilizing the soil. It is natural that the tribes in
Darfur do not even think they are Arabs or Africans. From a country that
considered it insignificant to distinguish between Arabs and Africans, people now
choose to stand by. The defense of each tribe turned into national hatred.
- The origin of the war
In the Darfur region of western Sudan, the ethnic conflict that has taken place since
February 2003 has claimed the lives of more than 70,000 people and forced an estimated
1.8 million people to be displaced. The root cause of this conflict is complex and parts of
the picture remain unclear. However, a number of important facts have now been
clarified. The main culprits of the killings and deportations were the government-backed
"Arab" militia. The victims are mainly black African of three tribes. This crisis is
currently the largest humanitarian disaster on the planet.
The crisis in western Sudan is the result of separate but interrelated conflicts. The first is
a civil war between Muslims, the government army in Khartoum and two rebel groups in
Darfur called the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. Rebel
groups first appeared in February 2003, out of discontent that Darfur was economically
and politically quarantined by Khartoum. However, there was no significant
counterattack on the part of the government until April 2003, after the rebels launched a
major attack on a military airfield, destroyed many aircraft and captured toad an air force
general. Khartoum responded by arming the emergency militia and ordering them to
destroy the rebels. The militia was originally created just to carry out this task, but many
acts of violence against civilians ensued.

The Darfur crisis also involved a second conflict. In southern Sudan, a decades-long civil
war between Arab-dominated northern government and black Christians and spiritualists.
The war has affected Sudan more or less for 11 years, since its independence from Britain
in 1956, and has claimed the lives of about two million people since 1983. In recent
years, the government and The Southern uprising movement joined in comprehensive
negotiations named after the Intergovernmental Development Agency (IGAD) - the
organization that mediated this peace process. After several rounds of negotiations, the
two sides reached an agreement in June 2004, and international observers hope that the
prolonged war in Sudan will finally end.
However, the Darfur issue was never presented in the discussions of the IGAD, and the
Darfur rebels decided to attack, in part to avoid being sidelined into new political
arrangements in the future. . Many feared that the war could break the IGAD's
agreements: Southern rebels were cautious about signing a deal with a government that
was slaughtering its compatriots, and the hardliners of Khartoum. invoked violence to
reduce the effectiveness of the IGAD talks, which they saw were of great benefit to the
Southerners.

The Darfur crisis also had a third cause: indigenous race. With an area close to the state
of Texas (US - ND), Darfur is the land of about 6 million people and several dozen tribes.
But the region is divided by two main groups: those who claim to be black African
predominantly live in agricultural nomads, and those who claim to be Arabian
predominantly semi-nomadic. by herding cattle. As with other ethnic conflicts, the
division between these two groups is not always clear; many farmers also raise cattle, and
the distinction between Africans and Arabs is quite blurred. All Sudanese are
fundamentally African, Darfur are Muslim, and years of marriage between the two races
have blurred the obvious difference in appearance between "Arabs" and "Africans. "
black skin.
However, the split is real, and the resource disputes make the situation worse. In the past,
land disputes between farmers and herdsmen during the dry season were peacefully
resolved. But prolonged drought and the encroachment of deserts in the past two decades
have made water resources and arable land more scarce. Beginning in the mid-1980s,
successive governments sparked trouble with the support and arming of Arab tribes, in
part to prevent Southern rebels from gaining a foothold. in the area. The result was a
series of tragic conflicts in the late 1980s and 1990s. Arabs formed militias, burning
African villages and killing thousands. Africans in turn also formed self-defense groups
with members who would become the first rebels in Darfur in 2003.
Massive violence took place in the middle of that year. Khatoum responded to the rebels
in Darfur the same way they did to the conflict in the South: arming the Arab emergency
militia. So the Janjaweed militia group was born. Khartoum instructed the militia group
to "destroy the rebels," as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir admitted in a December
2003 statement. is aimed at black African civilians, mainly those from the same tribes as
core rebels.
- Recent situation in Darfur: Massive violence took place in the middle of
that year. Khatoum responded to the rebels in Darfur the same way they did
to the conflict in the South: arming the Arab emergency militia. So the
Janjaweed militia group was born. Khartoum instructed the militia group to
"destroy the rebels," as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir admitted in a
December 2003 statement. is focused at black African civilians, mainly
those from the same tribes as core rebels. Most of the attacks took place in
villages without an armed insurgent presence; it seems that Khartoum's
tactic is to destroy what is believed to be a backing base for the rebels -
civilians - to prevent the recruitment of more rebels in the future.
Records of different times and locations all showed that the attackers
separated the men to kill. Even so, women, children and the elderly are not
forgiven. Witnesses said they had witnessed the attackers sometimes killing
children. For women, the biggest danger is rape; Sexual abuse was
 widespread during this conflict. Robbery and destruction of property
happened frequently when the Janjaweed and its allies flooded the civilian
residence.
As of mid-October 2004, an estimated 1.8 million people - about a third of
Darfur's population - had been destroyed; with about 1.6 million Darfurs
displaced to other parts of Sudan and another 200,000 have crossed the
border to Chad. It is difficult to accurately determine the number of deaths;
most articles claim that around 50,000 people died, but the actual number
could be much higher.
- International controversies about the war

The bloody battle in Darfur is drawing a lot of attention. However, the

public debates in the US and elsewhere are not focused on how to end the
crisis, but discuss whether to call it "genocide" in terms of concepts. is
specified in the Convention against Genocide or not. The use of this phrase
has long been thought to spark various international responses.
In July 2004, the US Congress passed a Resolution calling the Darfur
incident a genocide. Then, in early September, after reviewing the results of
a comprehensive government-sponsored survey, US Secretary of State
Colin Powell used the term and US President George W. Bush took action.
similarly in a speech to the United Nations a few weeks later. It is the first
time that senior US officials have applied the term to an ongoing crisis and
have invoked the Convention. So the Darfur fact is a viable test to see if the
56-year-old Anti-Genocide Convention, which was drafted after the
Holacaust genocide (of the Nazis for Jews), can Making good or not your
commitment "there will never be a second" allows for deliberate
destruction of a people, race or religion.
So far, the Convention has yet to prove its strength. Contrary to
expectations, the Convention has not yet fostered international efforts to
engage in Sudan, although it is constantly being called upon. Instead, the
United Nations Security Council called for additional studies to be carried
out while posing a weak threat of economic sanctions against Sudan's
growing oil industry if Khartoum did not stop. violence; however the
deadline set by the Council has passed but no action has been taken. The
death toll continued to rise even though 670 African Union troops were sent
to the area with the logistical support of the US to oversee the ceasefire
agreement. Despite Washington's decision to break the taboo on the use of
the word "genocide", the international community once again showed its
slow and ineffective towards mass murder. support from the government.
Reality in Darfur shows: the effort of arguing whether to call these events
"genocide" has overshadowed and superseded the more important question
of how to respond effectively. with large-scale acts of violence that cause
 damage to civilians in Sudan. The immediate question is how to end this
massacre, with fear of tens of thousands more dying.
II. News
U.S. imposes trade sanctions on Myanmar, calls on China to help end coup as
violence escalates

The United States imposed trade sanctions against the military regime in Myanmar on
March 4, a day after security forces killed dozens of people in the deadliest day of
violence since a coup ousted the country’s civilian leaders last month and sparked
nationwide protests.
The Commerce Department is imposing export controls on Myanmar’s Ministry of
Defense and Home Affairs as well as two corporations closely associated with the
military — Myanmar Economic Corporation and Myanmar Economic Holding Limited.
Myanmar is also now subject to trade restrictions on certain sensitive items intended for
military use.
Security forces in Myanmar killed at least 38 protestors on Wednesday, according to the
United Nations. The violence is part of a campaign by the military to crush nationwide
demonstrations, which are calling for the release of civilian leaders who were ousted
from power and detained on Feb. 1.
Myanmar authorities have also targeted press members covering the protests. Associated
Press journalist Thein Zaw and five other members of the media were arrested and
charged with violating a public order law this week.
State Department spokesman Ned Price called for the regime to exercise “maximum
restrain” and warned the military that the U.S. would take further measures to hold it
accountable for the detention of journalists and violence against protestors.
Price said “This latest escalation in violence demonstrates the fact of the Juntas complete
disregard for their own people,”

President Joe Biden issued executive orders last month imposing sanctions against the
military leaders who directed the coup. The Federal Reserve of New York blocked an
attempt by the country’s military rulers to move $1 billion in funds days after they seized
power, according to a Reuters report.

Price said that The State Department on Thursday again called for China to use its
influence in Myanmar to help restore the country’s civilian government. U.S. and
Chinese officials have spoken numerous times about the situation in Myanmar since the
Feb. 1 coup /ku:/ cuộc đảo chính.

He said “We have urged the Chinese to play a constructive role to use their influence
with the Burmese military to bring this coup to an end,”

China, which has close ties with Myanmar, blocked the United Nations Security Council
last month from issuing a statement condemning the coup.
Trung Quốc, quốc gia có quan hệ chặt chẽ với Myanmar, tháng trước đã chặn Hội đồng
Bảo an Liên hợp quốc ra tuyên bố lên án cuộc đảo chính.

Burmese activists have said they are determined to continue attending protests in support
of democracy despite the violent crackdown.

Dịch: Mỹ đã áp đặt các biện pháp trừng phạt thương mại đối với chế độ quân sự ở
Myanmar vào thứ Năm, một ngày sau khi lực lượng an ninh giết hàng chục người trong
ngày bạo lực đẫm máu nhất kể từ khi một cuộc đảo chính lật đổ các nhà lãnh đạo dân sự
của đất nước vào tháng trước và làm bùng lên các cuộc biểu tình trên toàn quốc.
Bộ Thương mại đang áp đặt các biện pháp kiểm soát xuất khẩu đối với Bộ Quốc phòng
và Nội vụ Myanmar cũng như hai tập đoàn liên kết chặt chẽ với quân đội - Myanmar
Economic Corporation và Myanmar Economic Holding Limited. Myanmar hiện cũng bị
hạn chế thương mại đối với một số mặt hàng nhạy cảm được sử dụng cho mục đích quân
sự.
Lực lượng an ninh ở Myanmar đã giết ít nhất 38 người biểu tình hôm thứ Tư, theo Liên
Hợp Quốc. Bạo lực là một phần trong chiến dịch của quân đội nhằm dập tắt các cuộc biểu
tình trên toàn quốc, vốn kêu gọi trả tự do cho các nhà lãnh đạo dân sự đã bị lật đổ khỏi
quyền lực và bị giam giữ vào ngày 1 tháng 2.

Chính quyền Myanmar cũng đã nhắm vào các thành viên báo chí đưa tin về các cuộc biểu
tình. Nhà báo Thein Zaw của Associated Press và năm thành viên khác của giới truyền
thông đã bị bắt và bị buộc tội vi phạm luật trật tự công cộng trong tuần này.

Người phát ngôn Bộ Ngoại giao Ned Price kêu gọi chế độ thực hiện “sự kiềm chế tối đa”
và cảnh báo quân đội rằng Mỹ sẽ thực hiện các biện pháp tiếp theo để buộc phải chịu
trách nhiệm về việc giam giữ các nhà báo và bạo lực chống lại người biểu tình.

Bộ Ngoại giao hôm thứ Năm một lần nữa kêu gọi Trung Quốc sử dụng ảnh hưởng của
mình ở Myanmar để giúp khôi phục chính phủ dân sự của đất nước. Các quan chức Mỹ
và Trung Quốc đã nói nhiều lần về tình hình ở Myanmar kể từ cuộc đảo chính ngày 1
tháng 2, Price nói.

Price nói: “Chúng tôi đã kêu gọi người Trung Quốc đóng một vai trò mang tính xây
dựng để sử dụng ảnh hưởng của họ với quân đội Miến Điện để chấm dứt cuộc đảo chính
này.
Các nhà hoạt động Miến Điện cho biết họ quyết tâm tiếp tục tham dự các cuộc biểu tình
ủng hộ nền dân chủ bất chấp cuộc đàn áp bạo lực.

Quan hệ TQ- Myan như nào? During the 1990s and early 2000s, China was the main
supplier of weapons and weapons to Myanmar - the means used by Myanmar in its war
with indigenous ethnic insurgent groups. China approached Aung San Suu Kyi and her
party before the coup, as its policymakers and business groups often found it easier to
work with them than with the Myanmar military. which is famous for its hard nationalist
ideology.

When the West turned away from the Myanmar government after the 2016-2017
Rohingya crisis (During this crisis, the West criticized Myanmar for its dealings with
Rohingya Muslims), Aung San Suu Kyi - a politician in need of foreign assistance and
investment to fulfill her promise during her election campaign, good economics, has
almost no choice but to rely on Beijing.

Myanmar officially joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) when Suu Kyi attended a
forum on international cooperation in Beijing in May 2017.

The two countries then signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly build the
China-Myanmar Economic Corridor in 2018, aiming to further strengthen bilateral
cooperation under the BRI

In recent days, China blocked a British-drawn statement condemning the coup in

Myanmar - the first clear sign that Beijing would seek to get on with the military rulers in
Myanmar today. Những ngày gần đây, Trung Quốc chặn một tuyên bố do Anh soạn thảo
lên án cuộc đảo chính ở Myanmar – dấu hiệu rõ ràng đầu tiên cho thấy Bắc Kinh sẽ tìm
cách quan hệ tốt với giới cầm quyền quân sự ở Myanmar hiện nay.