By Nia Hamm
Correspondent
In an effort to make a difference in world affairs, Rutgers students were encouraged to take a stand on Darfur during Tuesday night's "Crisis in Darfur" program in the Riverside Lounge of the Student Activities Center on the College Avenue campus.
The strife in Darfur has gone on since 2003 and involves armed conflict between a militia group and the non-Baggara people of the region.
The death count has ranged from 50,000 as cited by the World Health Organization in 2004 to 500,000 in as recently as this month.
While the Sudanese government has consistently denied it supports the Janjaweed militia group, it has supplied them with money and assistance and has participated in joint attacks that target certain ethnic groups in Darfur.
"In Rwanda we say we didn't know, but in Sudan we can't say we didn't know," William Paterson University professor Jean-Gratien Uwisavya said at Tuesday night's program.
Speakers discussed the international inaction of countries around the world and how this inaction perpetuated the violence many African nations experience today, particularly the Sudanese region of Darfur.
Uwisavye said she believes the complacency of the world and the fighting over Africa's resources such as oil is leading many African nations to go back on their vow of "never again."
"It's about interests and during that fight of interests people are dying," he said.
The Rev. Vander Wall, a Rwandan refugee and languages professor at William Paterson University, spoke on how grassroots efforts are key when trying to implement change whether in ones local community or their global community.
Wall said Darfur "has been labeled the worst humanitarian crisis in the world."
What has been termed genocide by many has caused the U.N. Security Council to approve a resolution to send a 17,300-troop peacekeeping force to aid the ill-equipped 7,000-troop African Union Mission in Sudan peacekeeping force.
But Sudan rejected the resolution saying it would view U.N. forces in the region as foreign invaders.
Wall said whatever compromises need to be made between the United Nations and Sudan should be done quickly so as not to further delay the end of the conflict.
He also encouraged students to be more proactive about their involvement in the Darfur efforts. He said he believes a valuable component of change at the grassroots level is students in universities.
According to the World Health Organization, between 50,000 and 500,000 died as a result of the conflict, and as many as 2.5 million people have been displaced.
One of the reasons the Darfur effort at William Paterson University is gaining momentum, Van Wall said, was because, "Students like yourselves are starting to send petitions to our government."
He said the more pressure activists apply to local and national governments, the more incentive these governments have to take the issue seriously.
Livingston College junior Idayat Adewunmi, representative of African advocacy group TWESE, said she believes Tuesday night's program was all about spreading the word.
"As an African student organization why wouldn't we, this is affecting our continent," she said.
Cook College senior David Pierre, an Iota Phi Theta representative, believes the problem in Darfur is so destructive that it is the students' duty to make more of an effort to help resolve the crisis.
"From my understanding, not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape and mass slaughter," he said.
"Don't be afraid to bring it up to a faculty person that has some knowledge about the world and what's going on," Wall said.
Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc hosted the event.
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