(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - An overwhelming majority of people in six predominantly Arab nations think their respective governments should become engaged in the Sudan crisis, according to a poll by Zogby International and the Arab American Institute.

More than 90 per cent of respondents in Morocco, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia think their countries should do more to help in Darfur. Egypt is next on the list with 83 per cent, followed by Turkey with 82 per cent, and the United Arab Emirates with 69 per cent.

Sudan has been ravaged by food shortages and deadly attacks in the Darfur region, where two black African armed groups—the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)—are fighting the mainly Arab central administration and pro-government militias known as Janjaweed. According to the United Nations (UN), the conflict has led to the deaths of at least 200,000 people, and the displacement of more than 2.5 million inhabitants.

In March 2006, U.S. state secretary Condoleezza Rice referred to the situation in Sudan's Darfur region as "genocide." A report conducted by the U.S.-based Physicians for Human Rights claims that 400,000 people have died in the area since 2003.

On May 1, the UN Security Council unanimously approved extending the organization's current mandate in Sudan—known as UNMIS—until the end of October. UNMIS has a staff of 12,000 people and was created in March 2005 to help maintain a peace deal between Sudan's government and southern rebels.

The UN has repeatedly asked the Sudanese government for permission to send 20,000 UN peacekeepers into Darfur to stop the ongoing carnage. Sudanese president Omar al-Beshir has repeatedly rejected the calls, agreeing only to the presence of peacekeepers from the Arab League, reinforced by 3,000 UN troops.

Polling Data

Please tell me if you agree or disagree with the following statement: My country should do more to help in Darfur.

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