wfn.org | Extent of suffering in Sudan unrealized

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Oct. 22, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
10-21-71B{559}

STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - Part of the problem with the situation in the Sudan
is that most people don't realize the extent of the human suffering there.

That's the view of Roger Winter, who has served as executive director of the
U.S. Committee for Refugees since 1981. He spoke during the Oct. 18-21
annual meeting of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and called
those living in South Sudan "the poorest, most destitute population anywhere
in the world."

Winter noted that the legacy of colonialism left "unnatural borders" among
the peoples of Africa, often resulting in power struggles between various
groups once independence was gained. "Those borders are one of the major
contributing factors to the level of civil war that we see today (in
Africa)," he said.

"The tragedy is that communal war is inherently genocide-prone," he added,
explaining that one group is usually trying to drive another group out, even
if it has to eliminate them. 

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, has been engaged in civil war for 33
of its nearly 44 years. While Winter warned that it was easy to
over-simplify what has become "a highly-complicated conflict," he said there
is no doubt that all people there - whether Arab or African, Muslim or
Christian, Northerner or Southerner - suffer the consequences.

He does believe that the government in power for the past decade, controlled
by the National Islamic Front, is the primary abuser in the Sudan and that
the people of South Sudan are the primary victims. The current government is
the result of a coup staged in 1989 to prevent a peace settlement that would
have resulted in a separation of church and state.

Since that government took office, Winter said, "the body count in Sudan has
escalated really, really dramatically." The estimate is about 2 million
dead, more than any other conflict since World War II. Another 4 million are
internally displaced. More than 350,000 Sudanese are recognized refugees in
neighboring countries and another million have fled, unrecognized, to other
countries, such as Egypt.

Winter recounted the experience of taking some members of his board of
directors to South Sudan last year. They visited what was once the country's
second largest custom post, where today not one building remains intact
because of repeated bombing. The only thing really functioning is a hospital
run by a Norwegian non-governmental organization and staffed by the
Sudanese. His group had a tour of the up-to-date hospital, which was built
with the help of U.S. taxpayer dollars.

"Within hours of leaving that hospital, it was bombed by the government air
force for the fourth time," he said. In addition to the human casualties,
the hospital's operating theater and new staff housing were destroyed.

Although such bombing is not effective military strategy, Winter explained,
it serves to terrorize the population and intimidate the humanitarian groups
trying to assist them.

Despite the continued assaults, there have been recent efforts toward peace,
including a partnering between South Sudan and some northern Arabs in the
National Democratic Alliance and an effort by a group including neighboring
countries with a vested interest in ending the war.

But Winter pointed out that it is important for the U.S. government to think
about Sudan beyond its concerns for terrorist activity there. It must
consider a just solution to Sudan's war, promote the idea of
self-determination for its people and support the peace process
diplomatically and financially, he declared.

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United Methodist News Service
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