Darfur Action Group of South Carolina

Origin of the Darfur Genocide

Darfur is located in western Sudan, the largest country in Africa, and is about the size of Texas. Its population of 6 million is almost entirely Muslim. There are two broad groups of Darfurians – African farmers and Arab nomads. In February 2003, conflict arose when a group of African rebels felt they were being neglected and deliberately marginalized and therefore, proceeded to attack a series of governmental military installations.

The government retaliated, but did not restrict its response to the rebel combatants. Instead, it adopted a scorched-earth policy against the African civilian population. They armed Arab militias known as the Janjaweed (which means “devils on horseback” in Arabic). The Janjaweed burned the villages, shot the men, gang raped the women, and clubbed the children to death. Racist insults were a clear part of the attacks.

Hundreds of farming villages, each with hundreds to thousands of inhabitants, have been burned to the ground. More than 400,000 people have died, each with a name and a life history. Over three million have fled to squalid refugee camps, where thousands more die each month of deprivation and disease.

Life in a Refugee Camp

The millions that have fled attacks endure weeks of agony and suffering as they trek across open desert to horrid refugee camps that have sprung up within the country and across the border in Chad. After they arrive, they are totally dependent upon humanitarian aid to survive. Shelters are crowded against one another, and each consists of a plastic tarp propped up between sticks. Food and water rations are minimal, made worse by intentional governmental obstruction of relief agencies trying to deliver food and medicine. There is no protection. Many women have been raped when they have wandered from the camps in search of firewood. While the exact number is unknown, a large group has been unable to reach refugee camps. Most are beyond the reach of humanitarian aid; their survival is threatened.

The Frightening Lack of Security

There is a contingent of 7,000 African Union troops assigned to monitor a non-existent ceasefire, but they do not have the authority to use their weapons to protect either the villagers or the refugees.

Seven thousand soldiers monitoring an area the size of Darfur is equivalent to that of each soldier monitoring an area the size of Manhattan.

The Final Solution

The Darfur genocide has now entered a new phase. Since the majority of the villages have already been destroyed, the present focus of the Sudanese government is to keep the survivors in a threatened existence, which accelerates their final destruction. There is a deliberate attempt by the government to prevent adequate aid and security for these endangered innocents within the camps. It is these innocents, who are mostly women and children, which the international community has failed to protect.

The origins of the Darfur conflict may be complex, and its resolution may well require a similarly complex solution. The responsibility to protect the lives of innocent women and children, however, is not subject to interpretation or open to debate.

A Child’s View of Genocide

Dr. Annie Sparrow, a pediatrician who works with Human Rights Watch, traveled to refugee camps and handed out crayons and paper to children. Despite no specific instructions, most drew accounts of their recent experiences.

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