OPINION:
The conflict in Darfur is spilling over Sudan’s borders into Chad. On May 11, Sudan’s president, Lt. Gen. Omar Bashir, severed relations with Chad following an assault on Khartoum. He blamed Chad for the attack. Darfur’s most prominent rebel group, Justice and Equality Movement led by Khalil Ibrahim, orchestrated the assault on the capital and pledged to strike again. Yet Gen. Bashir accused the Chad government of using the rebel militia as a proxy. Chad has denied the charges and has in turn accused the Sudanese government of arming rebels who, in February, launched an attack on N’Djamena, the Chadian capital. Despite the peace agreement that was signed in March between the two nations, mutual suspicion and accusations abound. A border war may erupt, as both nations are convinced that their neighbor is using rebel groups as a method to launch offensives.
Among the many victims in this conflict are children who serve in the militias. These fighters — as young as 8 years old, both male and female — have been coerced or recruited to join either the rebel militias or the Chadian army. Since January 2006, Human Rights Watch has been condemning the use of child soldiers in the region. Following intense international pressure led mostly by France, the Chadian government pledged in May 2007 to demobilize children in their ranks. But there is evidence that children continue to serve in militias in both Chad and Darfur. Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 20 countries around the world use children as soldiers; there are 250,000-300,000 child combatants worldwide. Use of child combatants is considered a war crime by the U.N. — and we deem it an atrocity.
The escalating tensions between Sudan and Chad are more fallout from one of the largest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. The violence in Darfur has already resulted in the death of more than 200,000 people (some estimates range as high as 400,000) and the displacement of approximately 2.5 million people. The conflict, which began in February 2003, is considered genocide by the United States: The Sudanese militia in tandem with an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed is battling a variety of groups, such as the Sudan Liberation Movement and Justice and Equality Movement.
Since 2004, Chad has been destabilized; approximately 200,000 Sudanese refugees have poured into the country. This has been further compounded by internal attempts to oust Chad’s president, Lt. Gen. Idriss Deby. In October 2005, his opponents joined insurgents in Darfur and gained the support of the Sudanese government. Opposition raids upon Gen. Deby have thus far been unsuccessful — but the animosity between Chad and Sudan intensifies.
The African Union, the European Union and the United Nations have all made tepid attempts to end the violence in the region, but international will has been weaker than the resolve of murderous local groups. How many more African nations and children need be dragged into the conflict before decisive action is taken?
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