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Disaster in Darfur: the United Nations has been unable to prevent the crisis in Darfur, in western Sudan: the UN itself has described the situation as the world's greatest humanitarian crisis.

Article Excerpt
The crisis in Darfur erupted early in 2003. African rebels took up arms against the government for what they saw as decades of state neglect and discrimination against them. Along with claims of government neglect, there also is an economic side to the conflict. The country's mostly-non-Arab farmers compete with the mostly-Arab, nomadic herdsmen over access to land and water resources. The conflict has taken place mostly in a western region of the country known as Darfur.

As an April 2005 article in The Economist explains, "... For a year-and-a-half now, Sudan's Arab-dominated government has been ethnically cleansing this vast western region, by arming, encouraging, and giving air support to mostly Arab militias who kill, rape, and rob black Africans." The government insisted it was simply crushing the rebellion.

Meanwhile, the conflict has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, many as a result of hunger and disease, and driven two million people from their homes. And, the UN has warned that, by late 2006, up to four million people may be affected by food shortages.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has repeatedly called on the Security Council to take "urgent action" to end the massacre of civilians in the Darfur region. His plea in February 2005 came after a UN-appointed commission called for international trials for those...

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