Emancipation celebrations this weekend, leading up to the special day of observance on Tuesday, are as usual a time to thank God for the freedoms we enjoy and a pertinent reminder of the many who lack these freedoms, whether here at home or in other parts of the world.

August 1 must also serve to restate that the freedom, respect for the human person, fairness and justness, which emancipation connotes, are the rights of each individual, regardless of creed, race, ethnicity or gender. When there are people in any part of the world who are robbed of the freedoms we celebrate, our celebration must invariably be, in some sense, muted.

Since 2003 two million people who had lived in the Darfur Region of the Sudan have been forced to flee their homes—or what was left of them—after the Janjaweed militia came riding into the Darfur villages on their horses and camels, killing and raping women, burning and looting.

In three years of civil war, 300,000 people have been killed in the region. The refugees live in miserable and vulnerable conditions, many of them along Sudan’s border with Chad.

The rampage and destruction are largely the work of the Arab Janjaweed militia seeking to drive the native African people out of the land, but arguably also intent on denying them the right to freely exist.

The United Nations has stopped short of labelling all that has transpired in the region as genocide, but has stated that “international offences such as the crimes against humanity and war crimes that have been committed in Darfur may be no less serious and heinous than genocide.”

Violent conflict is not new to Sudan, Africa’s largest country. For 50 years fighting had been going on—on and off—between North and South Sudan until the Khartoum Government hammered out a deal with the ethnic African Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

Lessons from Darfur

Insurgencies against the Khartoum Government have continued elsewhere—in the north, east and west. Relative peace in the south has not spilled over.

Fighting in Darfur exploded into open rebellion in 2003 when Darfurian groups perceived that while a north-south agreement had been reached, they remained marginalised and neglected. The present suffering in Darfur is the crushing response of the Khartoum government, backed by the Janjaweed.

The reasons for the explosion of conflict in Darfur are not unlike those that led to riots in parts of the Caribbean when slaves learnt that freedom had been won but was being withheld. Underlying both contexts is the human need for freedom and respect.

The recently formed African Union, a coalition of 53 states, has deployed a force of 7000 in Darfur in an attempt to keep the peace. The move has not worked. The soldiers have said that their resources are too limited.

The European Union and the United States, who so far have funded the mission, are reluctant to give any more. They have called for larger and better-equipped troops to take over the peacekeeping role. In the meantime the catastrophe grows worse.

The gospel this Sunday questions such reluctance and indifference. Concerned for the crowds, Jesus asks his disciple Philip: “Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?” The disciples recognise that the little they can rustle up—the five barley loaves and two fish—were obviously not enough.

In the Lord’s transforming presence, however, the little feeds a multitude. The challenge for those wishing to see peace in Darfur is to allow God to use and transform what may not be enough. Darfur has lessons for us all.