Darfur Conflict Could Worsen, Warns Vatican Official

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http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=57458

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LORETO, Italy, JULY 27, 2004 - The conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan might end in genocide, warns the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations in Geneva.

"Darfur is not the only -- nor, unfortunately, will it be the last -- African crisis," Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said on Monday to the Missionary Service News Agency, in the framework of the 7th International Meeting on Migrations, being held in Loreto.

"From all that one gathers from the United Nations data and the reports of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the conflict in Darfur was started by the determination of groups of Arab militias to control the territory and seize the resources of the local black population, namely, the Nilotic," the archbishop clarified.

The archbishop explained that the parties in conflict are Muslim, although the local peoples of Darfur follow an Islam that is strongly influenced by African animist traditions.

"Therefore, the problem can be described in terms of racism and power to control the resources," he said. "It does not have a religious component as did the war that lasted over 20 years between the Christian and animist south and the Islamic north."
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