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Genocide in Darfur

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John Prendergast inspires the HRC to action. 

History of the Conflict   Current Assesment   Where IHMEC Stands

History of The Conflict

Since early 2003, over 400,000 civilians have died and well over 2.5 million have been driven from their homes in Sudan’s western region of Darfur. Over 500 people die each day from violence, malnutrition and disease. The victims are mostly from the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masaalit groups, considered to be “Africans;” the attacks are largely by a government-supported “Arab” militia, known as the “Janjaweed.” The Khartoum-based government fuels ethnic and racial violence by using Janjaweed militias as its proxies against Darfur insurgents. But it is the civilians who are suffering – pitting ethnic groups against each other; restricting international humanitarian access, which threatens mass starvation; bombing civilian targets with aircraft; and murdering and raping civilians. Ongoing estimates suggest that if aid is denied or unavailable, as many as a million people could perish.

Current Assessment (Updated April 2008)

What we are seeing in Darfur now is a level of ethnically targeted violence that has not been seen since 2004. The violence has increasingly become multidimensional as the rebel groups oppose the Sudanese government and Janjaweed, but also fight amongst each other for control of certain territories. The United Nations currently estimates that as many as 4 million people have now been displaced, and 400,000 have been killed.

Beginning February 8, Janjaweed militias, coordinating with Khartoum’s regular troops and military aircraft, began to attack areas north of el-Genenia, the capital of West Darfur. The destruction of ethnically African Masseleit and Erenga civilians and towns was leveled with bombings of towns, as well as surrounding villages and displaced persons camps. In the town of Siela, a town of 25,000, only 200 remained when aid officials arrived on Feb 14th, villagers either having been killed or have fled into eastern Chad.

In addition, a new threat centers on the oil-rich region of Abyei, which is claimed by both Sudan’s government and the semiautonomous government of Southern Sudan. Several hundred people have died there in recent clashes and like the Janjaweed milita that unleashed Darfur’s horrors the Misseriya, South Sudan’s armed forces are being armed and encouraged by the Khartoum.

Finally, the Security Council had promised to send 26,000 peacekeepers into Darfur by the end of last year. So far, the hybrid AU-UN force has deployed only 9,000 into Darfur. The mission has been hampered by Sudanese government obstruction, a lack of resources and logistical challenges. If UNAMID can’t quickly strengthen itself, aid organizations will likely withdraw, and the violence will only grow worse. Darfur is on the brink, and its people need not only life-sustaining humanitarian assistance, much more security than they receiving now, but a viable peace agreement and an end to impunity for those who have committed human rights abuses.

China's Role

Moreover, China has made little progress in pressuring the government of Sudan to end the genocide. In fact, China signed an agreement with the Sudan in which they will undertake the building of new schools, the construction of new $13 million presidential palace, reduce import tariffs on some Sudanese goods, loan US $77.4 million for infrastructure, and provide a grant of US $40 million. 

Additionally, minimal progress has been made in the creation of UN peacekeeping forces.  While in December 2006 al-Bashir agreed to a hybrid operation, subsequent statements and continued violence make evident additional troops and a solution to the peace process remains elusive.   

Where We Stand

At the IHMEC, we recognize that in order to honor the memory we preserve, we must endeavor to affect our world today. How can anyone who remembers and says “Never Again” remain silent?  While Darfur is neither Warsaw nor Auschwitz, it does not free us from an obligation to respond.  It happened in Cambodia, in the Balkans, in Rwanda, now in the Sudan – three continents that have become the grounds for killing fields and cemeteries. 

Government delegations and humanitarian agencies provide us with horror-filled reports from the region. The tragedy is shown weekly on television screens and on the pages of major news publications.  When we reflect on genocide throughout history, the so-called civilized world knew and preferred to look away.  Now people know.  Failure to act is certainly not from lack of knowledge, but one has to wonder rather to indifference to the fate of victims.

We can stop the genocide in Darfur, but there are those who simply are choosing not to. Together we all carry a very special responsibility to the whole of humanity. 

And if we don’t choose to the stop this genocide – “How Will History Judge Us?”

Read the 2005 Resolution passed by the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois Board of Directors

For up to date news coverage about the genocide in Darfur, visit The USHMM Committee on Conscience Website