The Darfur Genocide Crisis

Darfur Refugees, Photo Credit: Brian Steidle

Background
The genocide crisis in Darfur has arisen from a background of civil war in Sudan, with the most recent conflict beginning in 2003. At that time the JEM (Justice and Equality Movement) and SLA (Sudanese Liberation Army) attacked Sudanese government forces and installations. The government responded by using the Arab Janjaweed militia on the ground, giving aerial bombardment cover from government helicopters. Civilians were deliberately targeted on the basis of their ethnicity. United Nations observers reported that non-Arab villages were singled out while Arab villages were left untouched. By early 2004 thousands of civilians had been deliberately targeted and killed, and it is estimated that one million had been driven from their homes.

The situation continued to worsen, as genocide, mass raping of women, and torture, continued to be perpetrated by the Janjaweed militia with the support and collusion of the Sudanese government. On 9 September, 2004, Colin Powell stated to the US Senate that genocide was occurring in Sudan, and he directly attributed this to the Janjaweed militia and Sudanese government. The Sudanese government has denied involvement.

Former US Marine Brian Steidle visited Darfur in September 2004, as part of the African Union Team monitoring the situation. In his report My Camera Was Not Nearly Enough he said:

"Every day we surveyed evidence of killings: men castrated and left to bleed to death, huts set on fire with people locked inside, children with their faces smashed in, men with their ears cut off and eyes plucked out, and the corpses of people who had been executed with gunshots to the head. We spoke with thousands of witnesses -- women who had been gang-raped and families that had lost fathers, people who plainly and soberly gave us their accounts of the slaughter.
...The conflict in Darfur is not a battle between uniformed combatants, and it knows no rules of war. Women and children bear the greatest burden. The Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are filled with families that have lost their fathers. Every day, women are sent outside the IDP camps to seek firewood and water, despite the constant risk of rape at the hands of the Janjaweed. Should men be available to venture out of the camps, they risk castration and murder. So families decide that rape is the lesser evil. It is a crime that families even have to make such a choice. Often women are sexually assaulted within the supposed safety of the IDP camps. Nowhere is really safe.
...The worst thing I saw came last December, when Labado, a village of 20,000 people, was burned to the ground. We rushed there after a rebel group contacted us, and we arrived while the attack was still in progress. At the edge of the village, I found a Sudanese general who explained why he was doing nothing to stop the looting and burning. He said his job was to protect civilians and keep the road open to commercial traffic and denied that his men were participating in the attack. Then a group of uniformed men drove by in a Toyota Land Cruiser. The general said they were just going to get water, but they stopped about 75 yards away, jumped out, looted a hut and burned it."

In the photo below, by Brian Steidle, a Sudanese government soldier stands by a village food storage which he has just set fire to:



Current estimates of the number of Sudanese civilians who have been killed through ethnic cleansing range from 100,000 - 400,000 people. 2 million have been displaced from their homes. Many have fled to neighbouring Chad and face starvation and disease. The threat of the Janjaweed militia remains constant.

Refugees and Scorched Earth
The deaths caused by the genocide now continue as thousands face disease and starvation. By 15 October 2004, the World Health Organisation estimated that a further 70,000 people had died from starvation. While refugees are away from their villages the Janjaweed militia are burning them as part of a scorched earth strategy to prevent people from returning to their homes. On 26 April 2005 the Voice of America reported the following from UN spokesperson Kitty McKenzie:

"She says, "Just last Friday I went to a village in West Darfur called Seraf, which had been burned four days earlier. And there’s absolutely nothing left in the entire village, except some blackened pots and the mud bricks of the homes. The thatched roofs that used to stand on top of the houses were completely burned and the ground is scorched and blackened."
Ms. McKenzie believes the burned villages stood as a warning. She says, "We went back with a man who used to live in that particular village of Seraf and his interpretation is that it’s a message from the Janjaweed not to try to go back home because it’s coming close to the rainy season and people ordinarily would like to plant some crops. Sometimes people get tired and disgusted with living as displaced people and think that no matter how bad it is, they want to go home to their villages."

Brian Steidle's photo below shows the beginning of the burning of the Um Zeifa village after the Janjaweed militia had attacked and looted it:



Numerous villages have been burned to the ground. Faced with possible starvation for themselves and their children, some people have attempted returning to their home areas - an indication of their desperation as they try to choose between starvation or the real risk of genocidal death.

Current Situation
The reality of the Darfur situation is that there are not enough outside troops present in Sudan to end the conflict and protect the Darfur people. As reported here by the Toronto Star, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed for 12,000 African Union troops, and more troops from international sources. There is currently a force of only 2,400 African troops in the region. Canada has announced it will send 100-150 advisors to the region to assist the African peacekeepers, and will also supply military equipment. The Canadian government has also stated it will increase its $200 million in aid to Sudan. While figures like this sound high - it is effectively $1 per refugee. More aid is needed from many countries to effectively provide food and medical assistance.

The Darfur crisis is continuing, and will do so until a concerted effort is made to stop the ongoing genocide. So far the international response has been minimal and slow. Not enough to prevent 10,000 people dying every month, as reported by the Sudan Tribune, which also comments that the African Union is unlikely to be able to muster the number of troops that Kofi Annan has appealed for. The Darfur crisis is our crisis - what are we doing?

Sources:
Wikipedia
Voice of America
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Toronto Star
Sudan Tribune