Suddenly a baby cries
Malnourished
Maltreated
And ravaged
Men woman and children
Hang by their
Skin to
Mirages
the desert burns the skull
of all reasons
Storms that sweep
Into their eyes
Locks up
Within corneas
Daring death to open them
Darfur has no word
Darfur has no meaning
Darfur has deaths
The baby squeaks
Because only
He has the pride to
Know
When the
Janjaweed
Are coming
Its time then
The mirages are
slashed open
By flashing swords and
Faceless marauders
Screams will be a welcome whirlwind
Chasing the sun again.

The Darfur Genocide is an ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Western Sudan, mainly between the Janjaweed, a militia group recruited from local Arab tribes, and the non-Arab peoples of the region. The Sudanese government, while publicly denying that it supports the Janjaweed, is providing arms and assistance and has participated in joint attacks with the group. The conflict began in February 2003.

While a recent British Parliamentary Report estimates that over 300,000 people have already died [1], the United Nations estimates that 180,000 have died in the past eighteen months of the conflict [2]. More than 1.8 million people had been displaced from their homes. Two hundred thousand have fled to neighboring Chad.

April 30, 2006

Image by Sebastião Salgado – Refugees in the Korem camp – Ethiopia, 1984
Courtesy http://www.masters-of-photography.com

The Week of April 30, 2006      
All These I Loved by Kumud Biswas  
Culloden by Sue Tordoff 
Darfur by Dr. Amitabh Mitra   
Feelings of a Whore by Wangdi Gyalpo 
Incarnation of Love by P. Mohan Chandran 
Incinerated Love by P. Mohan Chandran 
Lost by Bernie McCann 
Lotus in the Mud by Harihar Rai Jha 
Make a Move by Harihar Rai Jha  
Marriage by Ragini Puri  
My Begging by Kumud Biswas 
My Burden by Kumud Biswas  
Searching Loch Lomond by Sue Tordoff 
Secrets by Dr. Amitabh Mitra 
Sri Lanka by Sue Tordoff 
The Meed by Vibesh 
The Story of Ginger by Kumud Biswas  
The Quest by Vibiesh  
The Wedded Life by T.A. Ramesh 

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