Team Darfur was an international association of athletes devoted to raising awareness of humanitarian crises related to

War in Darfur The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equalit ...

. It is among the many organizations that consider that war to involve

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

. Team Darfur attracted greater attention in the run-up to the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, because the Olympics were located in China, a country widely criticized for its economic involvement in Darfur. In particular, Team Darfur criticized China's economic and diplomatic support for the Sudanese government headed by

Omar al-Bashir Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (born 1 January 1944) is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Head of state of Sudan, Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in 2019 Sudanese c ...

. Al-Bashir currently faces genocide charges in the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

, which accuses him of masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation carried out using

Janjaweed The Janjaweed () are an Sudanese Arabs, Arab nomad militia group operating in the Sahel, Sahel region, specifically in Sudan, particularly in Darfur and eastern Chad. They have also been speculated to be active in Yemen. According to the United ...

fighters. For its part, China's stated policy in Sudan is to participate in international peacekeeping and diplomatic efforts while having "respect for udan'ssovereignty and territorial integrity" and encouraging economic developmen

Team Darfur attempted to exert pressure on the Chinese government by associating the Beijing Olympics with China's involvement in Darfur. On August 6, 2008, China revoked the entrance visa of American former Speed skating, speed skater and inline speed skater

Joey Cheek William Joseph Cheek (born June 22, 1979) is an American former speed skater and inline speed skater. He specialized in the short and middle distances and won Olympic gold in 2006. he is the Executive Vice President of Entrepreneurship for the ...

, Team Darfur's president and co-founder, hours before he was scheduled to leave for Beijing. Cheek was not competing in the

, but had planned attend the games in support of Team Darfur.

External links

Team Darfur

References

Darfur genocide Human rights organizations based in the United States

Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...

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See also

External links

References