 Sudan |
Issue 99 |
“A new dawn for Sudan”
2005 has marked a new beginning for Sudan. The guerrilla war that had raged in Southern Sudan formally ended on January 9 th 2005 with the signing of a peace agreement between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) Chairman Dr John Garang and the Vice-President of Sudan Ali Osman Taha. The aim of the treaty was to end the civil war that has claimed the lives of more than 2 million Sudanese. In a moving speech at the ceremony to celebrate the peace agreement Dr John Garang inspired the people with the following words, “Today heralds a new dawn for Sudan, where no more bombs will be falling from the sky on innocent women and children.”
While the stability in Southern Sudan is fantastic, the task of rebuilding and rehabilitating is enormous. Over the past decades hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have been displaced. These people are now returning from displacement camps to shattered and destroyed areas. These areas need to be rebuilt and developed. Also, many of the people have psychological scarring and need help to cope with the suffering and atrocities that they have witnessed and endured.
The peace treaty in Southern Sudan marked the end of a civil war that had been running since 1983. However, a shadow is still heavily cast over Sudan. In Western Sudan another civil war rages ‘the Darfur Crisis’. This conflict has been going on since the 1980s and intensified in 2003 when the government of Sudan and the resistance movements went into full-scale war. The government supports a militia group called the Janjaweed who are systematically attacking, raping and killing the Darfurians. A United Nations Commission concluded that “ the government of Sudan and its allied Janjaweed militia were responsible for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law amounting to crimes against humanity.” Already over 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes and over 30,000 people have been killed.
One of the 1.4 million people that have been displaced is Fatma who lives in a displacement camp in Nertiti with her seven children. The Janjaweed destroyed Fatma’s village and murdered her husband. Fatma and her children have been in the displacement camp since July 2004. Life in the camps is very difficult with very little food and water and limited shelter. Many people are undernourished and need medical attention and humanitarian assistance. Unclean water and lack of sanitation breed disease and poverty.
The situation in many of the displacement camps is critical. As fighting continues more people flock to the camps as their only hope for survival. The camps are overcrowded with sick and psychologically traumatised men, women and children. Caritas is helping Fatma and countless other people in the displacement camps like her by providing emergency aid, food, shelter and medical supplies. Your donation to Project Compassion enables Caritas Australia to respond to emergencies when they happen, such as the crisis in Sudan.
Although there has been little significant changes in the fighting in the Darfur region in the past six months the peace treaty between the government and the SPLA that ended the crisis in the South provides hope. It is a significant sign that the government is making changes and looking to end civil war in Sudan. The herald of the new dawn of peace in the South will hopefully be accompanied by a new era of peace in Darfur.
Activities Across the Curriculum
1) Go to the Caritas Australia Project Compassion 2005 information by visiting the following website: www.caritas.org.au/ourwork/pc05/materials.htm. Scroll down to ‘School materials’. Select primary or secondary school. Click on the icon ‘Project Compassion Stories’. Read the story on page 4 which is the full account of Fatma.
2) Write a newspaper article for your school magazine about Fatma and the situation in Darfur. Use the following website: www.db.idpproject.org/Sites/IdpProjectDb
/idpSurvey.nsf/wCountries/Sudan to help you get information.
3) Visit the following site and read the backgrounder ‘But I can’t go home’ and complete the activities www.ozspirit.info/2004/86b.html
4) Read the article about the peace treaty in Southern Sudan by clicking on the following site: www.caritas.org.au/emergencies/
sudan_news_012005.htm. Make a list of all the positive aspects of the treaty.
5) Caritas has been working hard in Sudan. To find out what you have been doing to support people in Darfur visit: www.caritas.org.au/emergencies/
sudan_caritas.htm. Create a poster to display around the school to raise awareness for Project Compassion and communicate what Caritas is doing in Sudan.
Mathematics
1) Visit the following site and answer the questions: www.db.idpproject.org/Sites/IdpProjectDb/
idpSurvey.nsf/WebIDPLevel2?ReadForm&Country=
Sudan&s=Population+Profile+and+Figures
- In 2003 how many people were internally displaced in Sudan?
- Find out how many people are displaced in the following regions: Khartoum, Greater Darfur, Western Upper Nile, Bahr al Ghazal, Greater Equatoria, Kassala, Blue Nile State.
- For each of the regions mentioned above in question 1b) find out the percentages of the internally displaced people from Sudan. You do this by dividing the region figure (answers to 1b) by the total (answer to 1a) and multiplying by 100.
Religon
1) Go to the Caritas Australia Project Compassion 2005 information by visiting the following website: www.caritas.org.au/ourwork/pc05/materials.htm. Scroll down to ‘School materials’ and them select either primary or secondary school. Click on the icon ‘Project Compassion Stories’. Read the story on page 4 which is the full account of Fatma.
2) Scroll back to page 3 and complete questions 1 – 5 under the heading Fatma – Sudan.HSIE/SOSE
1) Download the Project Compassion secondary worksheets:
www.caritas.org.au/ourwork/pc05/materials/
materials/Caritas%20Australia_Project%20
Compassion%202005_Schools_WorkSheets_Web.pdf
Worksheet 2 provides a comparative study focusing on the countries included in this year’s Project Compassion stories, comparing life expectancy, access to education, health services, safe water and sanitation. The worksheet also examines the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which aim to halve world poverty by 2015. Complete the exercises.
2a) Using the following site www.cia.gov/cia/
publications/factbook/geos/su.html compile a country profile on Sudan. In your profile include the following information:
- Map
- Flag
- Bordering countries
- Climate
- Natural resources
- Population
- Median Age
- Life expectancy
- Literacy
b) Do the same as you did in question 2 for Australia by using the following site: www.cia.gov/cia/publications/
factbook/geos/as.html
c) Make a list of all the differences between Australia and Sudan.
English
- Visit the following site www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/
05/05/darfur8536.htm and write a report on the situation in Darfur. In your report include the following information: - What are the ethnic divisions in Darfur?
- Causes of the conflict
- The Janjaweed
- The role of the government in the crisis
1) The following is an extract from a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights abuses in Darfur: “The Commission acknowledged that the government of Sudan and its allied Janjaweed militia were responsible for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law amounting to crimes against humanity. This was based on a widespread and systematic pattern of abuse against civilians committed between February 2003 and January 2005. Both indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against civilians included killing, torture, disappearances, destruction of villages, rape, pillage and forced displacement.”
Discuss what you think the international community can do to put pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the human right abuses in Sudan.
2) Go to the following site and read about the projects in Sudan:
www.ncca.org.au/christian_world_service/
at_work_with_our_partners/africa/sudan. Discuss why you think the “People to People Peace Conferences” are a positive step in bringing peace to Sudan.
3) To support Project Compassion, which responds to emergencies, such as the situation in Darfur, go to: www.caritas.org.au/ourwork/pc05/donateNow.htm