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Serenasailor
Veteran Poster
Username: Serenasailor
Post Number: 836
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 12:18 am: | 
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CHAD - As the sun sets, through the haze the shadows of the women appear, coming back as they have for centuries from gathering firewood. This simple task has always been women's work, but now just collecting sticks and branches is dangerous. Women, young and old, risk being hunted down by the Janjaweed and raped.
The Janjaweed, the Arab militia aligned with the Sudanese government, have used rape as a weapon of war to ethnically cleanse Darfur and eastern Chad of blacks.
Last month, 17-year-old Aziza and six other women went in search of firewood in the bush. Suddenly, three armed men rode up on horseback and chased her down. One man caught her, then he bit her arm and neck to "mark" her as a rape victim.
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She told us: "He tied my veil around my neck. He was wearing a Sudanese uniform. He was an Arab. He wanted to know what tribe I belonged to and if we had any land. He said, 'You are black. You have no place here. We will push you out of here. This land will remain for us.'"
Then, she says, he grabbed her tightly and raped her. Aziza would not look at his face.
Talking about rape is an act of courage here. Aziza has been shunned by her friends.
Other women understand too well Aziza's terror. In a land where people are admired for their stoicism, tears.
They sing a song about what the Janjaweed did to them.
"This is our land," begins one verse. "They rape us and they kill us. Who can we depend on to help us?"
Most of these women have been raped by Janjaweed soldiers, some by several men at a time.
Human Rights Watch estimates thousands of black women and girls have been systematically raped in the last three years.
"Often, women are scarred," says Eric Reeves, a Sudan analyst at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. "They have tendons cut, so as to mark them as having been raped. And, thus, unsuitable as brides and compromised as mothers and wives."
Song of Darfurian rape victims
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• Part 1: Our country
"This is our country, and we will defend it. They killed us, they finished us, they took our animals and our belongings. And you, Omar al-Bashir: This is our country, and we will defend it, and we will die dignified."
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Aziza doesn't know yet if she is pregnant. What she does know is that she may never get the chance to marry.
While her mothers, sisters and aunts stand by her, Aziza is still too terrified to go back into the bush, since the one moment when gathering firewood changed her life forever.
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Lil_ze
Veteran Poster
Username: Lil_ze
Post Number: 580
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 12:41 am: |
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can anyone here spell BULLSHIT?
there is a civil war going on in the sudan between the ISLAMIST north and the ANIMIST south.
the "janjaweed" are a CIVILIAN group of BLACK people who are adherents to ISLAM.
the people in the north have an ARAB CULTURE, but they are without a doubt BLACK PEOPLE.
this non-sense about how the "janjaweed" or the northern sudanese, are somehow terrorizing the "poor, helpless" people of the south, is a LIE.
if the northern sudanese did nothing, the "rebels" in the south of the sudan would attempt to overthrow the government in the north.
"the janjaweed have used rape as a weapon of war to ethnically cleanse darfur and eastern chad of BLACKS".
are you kidding me?
again its a CULTURAL war based on religion and culture. not race.
i challenge anyone to look at the photos of the "janjaweed" and the people or government in the north of sudan, and say they are not black. yes, there are some arabs in the sudan. but the vast majority of the people in the sudan (and yes im talking about the north and south) are black people.
the southern sudanese "rebels" are hell-bent on overthrowing the government in the north.
THERE IS A CIVIL WAR IN THE SUDAN.
this garbage about "genocide", is just media falsehood. there is a clash of CULTURE going on there. there is no attempt on the part of the people of the north to racially cleanse darfur. they are fighting against people who want to take over the government of the north.
the "janjaweed" was formed to protect civilians from the murdering "rebels" in the south. |
Dahomeyahosi
Regular Poster
Username: Dahomeyahosi
Post Number: 97
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 4 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 09:43 pm: |
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Lil_ze Africans are no more interested in how you choose to divide and label us than you are in how Kola chooses to divide and label "black" Americans. You may continue to use definitions which were created by your old slave masters. We will use our own. |
Lil_ze
Veteran Poster
Username: Lil_ze
Post Number: 586
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 05:22 pm: |
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well dahomeyahosi, i really don't give a dam about the "africans". the continent of africa (for the most part) is a disease ridden, civil war plagued hellhole.
so carry on with whatever you believe in.
i don't see black americans fleeing america to get to africa.
i do see africans by the boatload attempting to get to america.
so who cares what the africans are interested in?
not i.
*notice though that the points i made about the CIVIL WAR in the sudan were not addressed. |
Tropical_storm
Newbie Poster
Username: Tropical_storm
Post Number: 17
Registered: 10-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 - 05:28 am: |
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Interesting that a person who doesn't care about Africans posts an awful lot about Africans. |
Lil_ze
Veteran Poster
Username: Lil_ze
Post Number: 588
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 - 05:36 pm: |
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i don't post about africans.
i RESPOND to posts about africans.
i don't start post regarding africans, although i do post my thoughts when others discuss the natives of africa. |
Grind
Regular Poster
Username: Grind
Post Number: 140
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 18, 2006 - 02:59 am: |
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Ze,
Despite their appearance, the "blacks" in the north have considerably more non-black admixture than blacks in the south, ON AVERAGE, and that is why this conflict is properly described as a race war. |
Lil_ze
Veteran Poster
Username: Lil_ze
Post Number: 589
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 18, 2006 - 11:56 pm: |
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grind, yes there is a "racial aspect" that plays into this conflict, but that is not the main reason for the conflict.
the conflict is based on religion.
how much of a factor "race" plays into it is debatable.
i really have seen no evidence that there is an effort on the part of the people or the government of the north to "racially cleanse" or commit "genocide" against the people of the south.
the goverment of the north would be overthrown by NON-MUSLIMS, if they did not take some type of action to protect their government and their way of life.
the conflict has been improperly described as a "race war".
the conflict in the sudan is a "religious and cultural war".
the racial aspects are a small "side issue". |
Latina_wi
Regular Poster
Username: Latina_wi
Post Number: 56
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 27, 2006 - 07:41 pm: |
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Terrible things going on in sudan. The 'developed' world needs to act soon before more of these poor women are made victims. |
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