Background
Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict
for over three years. At least 400,000 people
have been killed; more than 2 million innocent
civilians have been forced to flee their homes
and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan
or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and
more than 3.5 million men, women, and children
are completely reliant on international aid for
survival. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994
has the world seen such a calculated campaign of
displacement, starvation, rape, and mass
slaughter.
Since early 2003, Sudanese armed forces and
Sudanese government-backed militia known as
“Janjaweed” have been fighting two rebel groups
in Darfur, the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement
(SLA/SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM). The stated political aim of the rebels
has been to compel the government of Sudan to
address underdevelopment and the political
marginalization of the region. In response, the
Sudanese government’s regular armed forces and
the Janjaweed – largely composed of fighters of
Arab nomadic background – have targeted civilian
populations and ethnic group from which the
rebels primarily draw their support – the Fur,
Masalit and Zaghawa.
The Bush Administration has recognized these
atrocities – carried out against civilians
primarily by the government of Sudan and its
allied Janjaweed militias – as genocide.
António Guterres, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, has described the
situation in Sudan and Chad as “the largest and
most complex humanitarian problem on the
globe.” The Sudanese government and the
Janjaweed militias are responsible for the
burning and destruction of hundreds of rural
villages, the killing of tens of thousands of
people and rape and assault of thousands of
women and girls.
With much international pressure, the Darfur
Peace Agreement was brokered in May 2006 between
the government of Sudan and one faction of
Darfur rebels. However, deadlines have been
ignored and the violence has escalated, with
in-fighting among the various rebel groups and
factions dramatically increasing and adding a
new layer of complexity to the conflict. This
violence has made it dangerous, if not
impossible, for most of the millions of
displaced persons to return to their homes.
Humanitarian aid agencies face growing obstacles
to bringing widespread relief. In August 2006,
the UN's top humanitarian official Jan Egeland
stated that the situation in Darfur is "going
from real bad to catastrophic." Indeed, the
violence in Darfur rages on with
government-backed militias still attacking
civilian populations with impunity.
On July 30, 2004, the UN Security Council
adopted resolution 1556 demanding that the
government of Sudan disarm the Janjaweed. This
same demand is also an important part of the
Darfur Peace Agreement signed in May of 2006.
On August 31, 2006, the Security Council took
the further step of authorizing a strong UN
peacekeeping force for Darfur by passing
resolution 1706. Despite these actions, the
Janjaweed are still active and free to commit
the same genocidal crimes against civilians in
Darfur with the aid of the Sudanese government.
International experts agree that the United
Nations Security Council must deploy a
peacekeeping force with a mandate to protect
civilians immediately. Until it arrives, the
under-funded and overwhelmed African Union
monitoring mission must be bolstered. And
governments and international institutions must
provide and ensure access to sufficient
humanitarian aid for those in need.
