On July 14, 2008, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo requested the court to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charging him with several counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes for the government's role in orchestrating genocidal violence in Darfur. In announcing the request, Ocampo said that President Bashir had “masterminded and implemented” a strategy aimed at destroying the three primary ethnic groups in Darfur: the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masaalit. The ICC judges may take several months to review the evidence before deciding whether or not to issue the warrant. This request is the first time the ICC prosecutor has brought charges against a sitting head of state. The Sudanese government has said that it will resist the ICC and contends that President Bashir is innocent. Tensions in Sudan remain high, as government-led reprisals could hamper humanitarian aid efforts, peace negotiations in Darfur, or the beleaguered UN peacekeeping deployment.
The charges against Bashir come as Darfur experiences increasingly multi-dimensional violence. Rebel groups have fragmented; paramilitary forces have exerted their independence from Khartoum; and the rising hostility between the governments of Sudan and Chad has come at the expense of civilians. Although the number of violent deaths appears to be declining, the region’s growing insecurity has increased the number of displaced persons, with 2.7 million Darfurians now living in refugee camps – 90,000 more than in 2005. The region's shifting conflicts between government forces, proxy militias, rebels, and bandits complicate humanitarian efforts that provide life-saving support to swelling IDP camps.
In May, Darfurian rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attacked government forces in Omdurman, a suburb of Khartoum, advancing to within a few miles of the center of capital. The skirmish echoed February's attack by Sudan-based Chadian rebels on the presidential palace in N'djamena, the capital of Chad. Quickly repelling JEM's assault, the Sudanese government accused Chad of supporting the rebels in an attempted coup and targeted JEM forces and civilians in reprisal attacks.
The hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID) has also suffered from the region's insecurity. On July 8, 2008, roughly 200 gunmen on horseback and in SUVs ambushed a joint police and military peacekeeping patrol in North Darfur state, killing seven and wounding 22. It was the worst attack on UNAMID since it took over from the African Union force in January. Equipped with fewer than 10,000 personnel of the 26,000 announced, the force continues to suffer from a lack of resources.
Winter 2008 There was a spike in violence recently in Darfur as the Sudanese government and their proxy militia, the janjaweed, returned to scorched-earth tactics commonly used from 2003 to early 2005. The violence has become increasingly multidimensional as the rebel groups oppose the Sudanese government and janjaweed, but also fight amongst each other for control of certain territories. According to U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, Richard Williamson, the fighting has displaced an additional 75,000 Darfurian civilians since the beginning of 2008.
The situation inside Darfur is linked to an increase in violence across the border in Chad. On February 2, 2008, shortly before a French-led EU force was due to deploy to the Chad-Sudan border, Chadian rebel fighters launched an attack on Chad’s capital of N’djamena. The rebels were ultimately unsuccessful and on March 13, Sudanese President al-Bashir and Chadian President Idriss Deby signed a peace agreement aimed at ending support for rebel groups in the region. The violence continues to take a toll of civilians, causing new waves of destruction and displacement in Darfur, in refugee camps in Chad, and for Chadian civilians.
As of mid March, hybrid AU-UN peacekeeping force for Darfur had deployed only 7,000 out of 26,000 promised troops. The mission has been hampered by Sudanese government obstruction, a lack of resources and logistical challenges.
Fall 2007 Efforts are underway to deploy a hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping force of 26,000 to replace the poorly equipped and overextended 7,000 AU troops now on the ground. On September 30 hundreds of rebels raided an AU peacekeeping base in Haskanita, killing at least ten soldiers and kidnapping dozens more. Aid officials are concerned that these attacks will discourage UN member nations from committing troops to the new hybrid force.
The UN and the AU are convening peace talks on October 27 in Tripoli, Libya. Key rebel leaders are refusing to participate, and the good faith of Khartoum remains under scrutiny.
Spring 2007 The situation on the ground in Darfur continues to deteriorate. Reports of new attacks against civilians, thousands newly displaced, humanitarian aid access declining and an increase in humanitarian withdrawals in December 2006 as a result of growing insecurity all contribute to a bleak picture for Darfur. According to Jan Egeland, the former head of UN humanitarian operations, such a scenario could potentially result in a loss of life reaching in excess of 100,000 per month.
The new UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, announced that Darfur will be a top priority for him. He traveled to the African Union Summit at the end of January to urge al-Bashir to cooperate with the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. Out-going Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced in December that the former General Assembly president and Swedish foreign minister Jan Eliasson was appointed as a special envoy for Darfur. At the end of January 2007 a UN assessment mission visited Chad and CAR to assess possibilities for UNPKO being deployed there to stem growing violence spilling over from Sudan.
In February Chinese President Hu Jintao on a visit to Khartoum told Sudan that it must give the United Nations a bigger role in trying to resolve the conflict in Darfur. President Hu Jintao also signed an agreement in which China undertook to build schools, a new presidential palace, reduced import tariffs on some Sudanese goods, granted a loan of 600 million yuan (US$77.4 million; euro59.5 million) for infrastructure, and gave a grant of a US$40 million (euro30.7 million).
There has been little progress towards the creation of a UN peacekeeping force for Darfur. Although Sudan’s President al-Bashir wrote to the UN Secretary General Annan that he would agree to hybrid operation in December 2006, he gave no details on troop size or composition, or command and control. Subsequent statements by the Sudanese government make clear that UN troops are not welcome. As of April 2007, the government of Sudan continues to resist the deployment of additional international troops. In early April, five African Union troops were killed and refugees continue to flow into Chad. United States Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte is expected to visit Sudan and deliver a message aimed at persuading the Sudanese government to accept UN troops.
November 17, 2006 On Friday, November 17, a newly proposed hybrid/interim force emerged out of discussions with AU, Arab League and African officials in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It appears that some of the details of this new force still need to be ironed out. The Sudanese government, claiming victory, contends the new formulation will not be led by blue helmets. Abdulmahmoud Abduhaleem, Sudan’s UN envoy, said: “This is a new plan that can be largely accepted by Sudan and takes 1706 to the graveyard," he said, referring to the number of Security Council resolution that the authorized the UN force. "1706 is dead." This would be a "very special type of operation" with the UN "paying for the AU to do the job." Meanwhile, the United Nations and others have a different take on it. The United States National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said about the Addis agreement: “This agreement paves the way for a joint AU/UN peacekeeping force for Darfur composed primarily of and led by Africans, and commanded, supported and funded by the UN.”
For many, ultimately, the effectiveness of whatever force is deployed will depend on three things: troop size, command structure and mandate. Outgoing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is calling for 17,000 troops and 3,000 police from Africa under U.N control structure, while Sudan claims that 12,000 troops would be enough. Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said his government was willing to allow some international logistical support for the AU mission in Darfur, but would never accept UN command of the force. And, asked by reporters about the possibility of blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers in Darfur, he replied simply "No."
On November 24th, Sudan will outline their demands for this force at the AU peace and security meeting in the Congo”.
Summer 2006 SERIOUS DETERIORATION IN DARFUR THROUGHOUT SUMMER 2006
On August 10, 2006, Jan Egeland, the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs stated that “It's going from real bad to catastrophic in Darfur.” Developments in September 2006 have only heightened the crisis.
Most greeted the May 5th signing of the African Union-drafted peace accord by the Sudanese government and a SLM rebel faction with cautious optimism. Other rebel groups, although not all of them, later agreed to the terms of the peace accords. However, by late summer many of the early deadlines in the agreement had passed, violence had increased, and humanitarian supplies were dwindling. In a addition to the continued violence perpetrated by the Government of Sudan and its proxy forces the Janjaweed, a recent upsurge of violence in Darfur has been attributed to fracturing allegiances within rebel groups and one rebel group aligning itself with Sudanese government forces. According to an article in the Washington Post, these new forces are armed with expanded weapons stocks, backed by government planes making bombing runs and augmenting the Janjaweed militias that already were raping, looting and killing their way through Darfur.
Over the summer, another 40,000 civilians have been displaced. In July alone, nine aid workers were killed—more than the two previous years combined. This past year attacks on non-governmental organizations were 75% higher than last year and the African Union monitoring mission experienced a 900% increase in attacks against them. In Darfur nearly 3.5 million people depend on humanitarian assistance, while aid levels have dropped and, due to poor security, access to vulnerable populations has decreased. The United Nations has estimated that only 50% of the people who need aid are receiving it.
On August 31, the UN Security Council passed a resolution, authorizing the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Darfur. The deployment of the UN force, however, requires the consent of Khartoum. The government of Sudan continues to vehemently reject the possibility of a multinational deployment.
The African Union force mandate ends Sept. 30, and now the Government of Sudan has told the AU to leave if it insists on handing over its mission to the United Nations.
With a potential AU departure and little sign of a UN force deployment, millions of Darfurians, who rely on outside assistance, remain trapped in a struggle to survive in a harsh desert environment. Thousands die each week from exposure and lack of food, water, and shelter.
Further, the government recently launched a new military offensive targeting rebel groups and civilians in north Darfur. Several international and Sudanese journalists have also been threatened, detained by authorities, and in one case, killed.
Darfur has moved into a lethal phase; civilians, aid workers, journalists and AU forces are all at risk.
Winter 2006 Violence continued to spiral out of control in January and February 2006, affecting unprotected civilians and delivery of crucial humanitarian aid. Ongoing attacks against non Arab villages continue to displace civilians from their homes. Camps for internally displaced persons within Darfur suffered armed attacks, driving Darfurians across the border into Chad.
The relative safety Chad can offer is at risk, as cross-border hostilities increase. Both countries accuse the other of supporting rebel insurgents. The fighting threatens civilians in both Sudan and Chad and could paralyze the delivery of essential humanitarian supplies in Darfur and Chad. In Darfur the delivery of aid is already precarious — twenty UN humanitarian aid trucks were stolen by unidentified gunmen in Darfur in recent weeks — and remains a lifeline for people whose livelihoods have been systematically destroyed.
On February 17, 2006, President Bush called for doubling the number of international troops in Darfur and for a bigger role for NATO in the peacekeeping effort. While the United Nations Security Council took steps towards sending a UN peacekeeping force to the region, neither the African Union nor the Sudanese government have yet agreed to such a force.
Fall 2005 Violence directed against specific targeted groups has diminshed, largely because the government and its milita allies have already cleared the country-side of non-Arab ethnic groups. Generalized violence — whether by bandits, individuals previously associated with the Janjaweit, rebels or unknown perpetrators — remains a significant problem in Darfur and threatens the ability of aid organizations to deliver vital supplies to displaced persons. The approximately 2 million displaced persons rely on aid and conditions necessary for them to return to their homes still do not exist.
There have been several rounds of political negotiations between the Government of Sudan and the rebel forces, including some through the end of September 2005. However, these talks have yet to produce any binding agreements and occasional clashes between government and rebel forces continue. The rebel groups have splintered, causing new violence and complicating the negotiations. While a new government of national unity has been sworn into office in Khartoum, a positive indicator for the country as a whole, it remains to be seen how this will affect conditions in Darfur.
The African Union Monitoring Force has begun increasing its personnel, but will not able to meet the projected numbers of 6,171 military personnel and 1,560 civilian police by the end of September 2005. Where their numbers and presence are sufficiently strong, the ceasefire monitors have been able to protect civilians, but extending their capacity to protect remains limited while their numbers are low and their mandate does not explicitly demand civilian protection.
Spring 2005 In January 2005, the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur issued its report to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The report assigned overwhelming responsibility for massive human rights abuses against civilians to the Government of Sudan and its allies, concluding that “it is undeniable that mass killing occurred in Darfur and that the killings were perpetrated by the Government forces and the Janajweed in a climate of total impunity and even encouragement to commit serious crimes against a portion of the civilian population” (p. 79). They also note that the targeted civilians are from “African” tribe.
On the issue of whether genocide has been committed in Darfur, the panel reached the somewhat confusing conclusion that although there is no immediate evidence of a government policy of genocide, individuals (including government officials) could possibly be found to have genocidal intent. Such a finding, the panel said, should be made by a competent court on a case by case basis. It also recommended that because the government is unable and unwilling to address accountability for perpetrators, the conflict in Darfur should be referred to the International Criminal Court.
The United Nations Security Council continues to discuss Darfur, passing new resolutions of doubtful effectiveness in stopping the violence. On March 31, they voted, with the U.S. abstaining, to refer the situation in Darfur to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Negotiations between the government of Sudan and the rebel forces have begun and broken up several times, without producing any serious agreements. The African Union monitoring teams remain at only a few thousand and without a civilian protection mandate.
November 4, 2004 "It's like the government wants to get rid of people in the town and send them to the desert where they are closer to death." --Aid worker quoted in Washington Post
The Washington Post’s Emily Wax reports from Darfur on the Sudanese government’s attack on a camp where displaced Darfurians had taken shelter: “Residents and relief workers said the troops burned shelters, smashed water pipes, fired tear gas and beat people as they fled half-asleep from their huts. Within five hours, they said, the camp was reduced to ashes and about 100 residents were crammed into the makeshift clinic, seeking first aid for gunshot wounds, burns and bruises.”
The humanitarian situation for the displaced and refugees remains perilous. The United Nations estimates that since May 2004 (when humanitarian agencies gained access to Western Sudan), 70,000 people have died, mostly from disease and hunger. This is in addition to deaths from direct violence by the government and its allies. At least 1.5 million people have been displaced since February 2003 and another 200,000 are refugees in neighboring Chad. The World Health Organization reports a rate of 10,000 deaths per month. According to William Garvelink, deputy administrator of USAID, “the crisis in Darfur has not yet peaked. We have not yet seen the worst.” USAID believes worsening food shortages leave 300,000 at risk of death.
Peace talks between Darfur’s two rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), and the government, threatened to break down on October 28th after rebel groups accused the government of continuing to bomb civilians with army aircraft. Mediators from the African Union have proposed a security arrangement that would aim to break the stalemate in negotiations and hopefully pave the way for humanitarian protocols, which rebels have refused to sign while security arrangements were unsettled.
The African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) currently has some 390 troops from Rwanda and Nigeria on the ground, and it is expected that this number will increase to 3,320 by the end of November. These forces are mandated to protect 150 ceasefire monitors and civilians threatened with immediate harm in a region approximately the size of France.
September 9, 2004 US Secretary of State Colin Powell: "genocide has been committed in Darfur."
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Setpember 9, 2004, US Secretary of State Colin Powell reviewed the evidence of a State Department investigation into atrocities committed in Darfur and concluded that genocide has occurred and may still be occurring.
"In July, we launched a limited investigation by sending a team to visit the refugee camps in Chad to talk to refugees and displaced personnel. The team worked closely with the American Bar Association and the Coalition for International Justice, and were able to interview 1136 of the 2.2 million people the UN estimates have been affected by this horrible situation, this horrible violence.
Those interviews indicated: first, a consistent and widespread pattern of atrocities: Killings, rapes, burning of villages committed by Jingaweit and government forces against non-Arab villagers; three-fourths of those interviewed reported that the Sudanese military forces were involved in the attacks; third, villagers often experienced multiple attacks over a prolonged period before they were destroyed by burning, shelling or bombing, making it impossible for the villagers to return to their villages. This was a coordinated effort, not just random violence.
When we reviewed the evidence compiled by our team, and then put it beside other information available to the State Department and widely known throughout the international community, widely reported upon by the media and by others, we concluded, I concluded, that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the Government of Sudan and the Jingaweit bear responsibility -- and that genocide may still be occurring. Mr. Chairman, we are making copies of the evidence that our team compiled available to you and to the public today. We are putting it up on our website now, as I speak. "
“Conflict in South Darfur and other areas is ongoing as are continuing patterns of violence against civilians, including attacks by government forces and the government-backed militias known internationally as the ‘Janjaweed.’” -- Human Rights Watch
August 25 has been designated a national Day of Conscience for Darfur. Participate in the national Day of Conscience for Darfur. Groups and individuals are being encouraged to mark the day in some way, and events are being planned across the country. To find an event near you, or ideas for what you can do on your own or with others, go to the Save Darfur Web site.
The situation in Darfur, for which the Museum has declared a Genocide Emergency continues to deteriorate. Despite promises to the contrary, the government and its allies continue to attack civilians, leading to a surge in refugees crossing the border into Chad. Instead of disarming “Janjaweed” militias as required by the Security Council, Human Rights Watch reports that the Khartoum-based government is incorporating the militias into uniformed security forces.
July 26, 2004 HOLOCAUST MUSEUM DECLARES “GENOCIDE EMERGENCY” IN SUDAN. Museum to Open Display on Darfur
For the first time in its history, the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum today declared a “genocide emergency,” saying that genocide is imminent or is actually happening in the Darfur region of Sudan.
“We began warning about the threat of genocide in Darfur at the beginning of this year,” said Committee on Conscience Chairman Tom A. Bernstein. “That threat is now becoming reality.”
Estimates of the current death toll range from 50,000 to more than 100,000, with the likelihood that hundreds of thousands more will die in coming months because of direct violence and “conditions of life” deliberately inflicted on targeted groups by the Sudanese government and its militia allies. The victims are largely members of the Fur, Zaghawa and Masaalit ethnic groups, considered in Darfur to be “Africans.”
Under the United Nations Genocide Convention, adopted in 1948, in the wake of the Holocaust, nations vow to “undertake to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.” Genocide is defined as certain acts, when committed “with intent to destroy” a targeted group, in whole or in part. The specified acts include killing members of a group, causing severe bodily and mental harm and deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in part.
“We take a very conservative approach to the definition of genocide,” said Jerry Fowler, staff director of the Museum’s Committee on Conscience, who visited refugee camps in Chad in May and collected testimonies from refugees who had fled Darfur. “We don’t use the term lightly. But the situation clearly has reached the point now where that term is appropriate. The U.S., the U.N. and other countries must now act to stop this genocide from going further. And then they need to punish those responsible.”
Fowler pointed to the Sudanese government’s responsibility for the large number of Darfurians now perishing and likely to die in the coming months.
“By hindering and slowing access for the international relief assistance that the displaced require for survival and failing to rein in their janjaweed allies,” he said, “the Khartoum government and its proxies are directly responsible for the increasing deaths from malnutrition, lack of clean water and related diseases.”
The U.S. Agency for International Development predicted in April that 350,000 or more people would be dead by the end of the year. More recent assessments by independent aid groups suggest that this estimate may be conservative. Read the full press release.
July 15, 2004 “We are now in this moment of truth, which will last for some weeks. My worst scenario is that the security will deteriorate, that we will step back at a moment we have to actually step up.” ---Jan Egelund UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs
Sudan’s government sought to forestall Security Council action on Darfur by taking steps to ease access for humanitarian relief. A resolution drafted by the United States would impose sanctions on leaders of the janjaweed militia and threaten future sanctions on the Khartoum-based government.
Aid workers disputed claims in Khartoum that problems in Darfur are “getting smaller.” In particular, they warned that the situation for civilians in Western Darfur, the most remote of the three Darfur provinces, was “spiraling downward.” “We’ve got a precarious situation in that people are weakened, they are not getting enough food, they are living in abominable conditions which are very cramped, with no sanitation to speak of,” said one aid worker.
Reports that Khartoum was trying to force displaced people to return to their destroyed villages also raised new fears. Said one aid worker, “There is no food [in their villages]: they will go back to die.” Because the militias destroyed all the food stocks and because this year’s planting season ended two weeks ago, there will be no local food sources until the August 2005 harvest (assuming the people had any seeds to plant in June 2005).
In Washington, Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Jon Corzine (D-NJ) introduced legislation to declare Darfur a genocide. Both Senators participated in the Bearing Witness for Darfur ceremony at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum last month.
The Washington Post's Emily Wax documents mass rape in Darfur in a chilling front page story. She quotes one high-ranking aid worker as saying that "these rapes are built on tribal tensions and orchestrated to create a dynamic where the African tribal groups are destroyed."
This story follows on an equally powerful one that ran on the front page of Sunday's Post, "In Sudan, Death and Denial." The death is in Darfur; the denial is in Khartoum.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is visiting Darfur, as U.S. officials said that they are preparing to circulate a draft Security Council resolution to address the crisis.
June 25, 2004 “We stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Darfur.” ---Holocaust Survivor Nesse Godin
In an extraordinary step, the Holocaust Memorial Museum halted normal activities on Thursday morning to “Bear Witness for Darfur.” Holocaust Survivor Nesse Godin, joined by 30 other Holocaust Survivors, proclaimed her solidarity with the people of Darfur. Other speakers included Amal Allagabo, a Darfurian exile, Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ).
Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that he will go to Darfur on June 29, as U.S. war crimes ambassador Pierre Prosper told Congress that the U.S. sees “indicators of genocide”in Darfur. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is also slated to visit Darfur in coming days.
June 15, 2004 "People are dying because we were denied access for so long, and people will be dying because we are not able to get through." ----Jan Egeland UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs
Egeland charged that the Sudanese government continues to block access to the displaced in Darfur, despite promises by Khartoum last month that access would be allowed.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the New York Times that the U.S. government is actively considering whether the Sudanese government is committing genocide in Darfur.
He also stressed that "there are at least a million people who are desperately in need, and many of them will die if we can't get the international community mobilized and if we can't get the Sudanese to cooperate with the international community. And it won't make a whole lot of difference after the fact what you've called it."
After a long silence, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has begun speaking more forcefully about Darfur, telling a press conference in Brazil that "[t]his is a humanitarian emergency of catastrophic proportions that must be addressed, not tomorrow but now and the world must insist that the Sudanese authorities neutralize and disarm the janjaweed militia, who continue to terrorize the population. They must also allow humanitarian supplies and equipment to reach the victims of these atrocities immediately because further delay could cost hundreds of thousands of lives."
June 4, 2004 Andrew Natsios, chief of the U.S. Agency for International Development, expressed fears that “right now, if we get relief in [to Darfur], we’ll lose a third of a million people, and if we don’t the death rates could be dramatically higher, approaching a million people.”
This echoed a new warning by Lee Jong-Wook, director-general of the World Health Organization: “Death and disease spiral upwards when there is inadequate food, unsafe water, improper sanitation and shelter, widespread violence, lack of public health inputs like vaccinations and insufficient access to medical care. These are the realities of the current crisis in Darfur.”
AID’s Natsios identified three requirements for preventing a worsening of the crisis: resources, access and security. Natsios was speaking at a donors conference in Geneva at which the UN was seeking an additional $236 million in aid through the end of 2004.
On the issue of access, Natsios said that, despite a move by the Sudanese government to ease travel restrictions, “the problem of access is far from resolved.” He cited “numerous bureaucratic and other impediments that are preventing access” and accused Khartoum of “lifting one set of restrictions only to impose a series of new ones.”
On security, Natsios called on the Sudanese government to “stop the Janjaweit militia atrocities and violence now, something they committed themselves to do in” an April 8 ceasefire agreement.
UN officials also pointed to the role of the government-supported janjaweed militias in causing and perpetuating the crisis. Under-Secretary General Jan Egeland warned that “the Janjaweed militia have been so harsh on the populations that we will have a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions even in the best of circumstances.”
James Morris, head of the World Food Program, recalled his recent visit to the region: “I have never in my life seen people more frightened. The way they’ve been victimized, brutalized, raped and treated in the most inhumane way possible is extraordinary. . . . The government [of Sudan] needs to take responsibility for this and knock it off and get it under control quickly.”
May 20, 2004 The latest Darfur Humanitarian Profile conducted by the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that more than 2 million people are being affected by the conflict, compared to 1.1 million reported in the April Profile. Approximately 432,329 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in West Darfur, 320,906 in North Darfur, and 233,138 in South Darfur. The rest are refugees who fled to neighbouring Chad. And according to Jean de Cambry, Medecins Sans Frontieres' emergency field coordinator who just returned from the Chad/Sudan border: "The level of malnutrition is now climbing every week."
At the same time, visas issued to a USAID team to monitor and assess the humanitarian crisis in Darfur have left them stranded in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan: "The 11 people in Khartoum did receive travel permits, however, the permits are only valid for three days and the government of Sudan requires 72 hours notice to travel, so that sort of renders the permits useless by the time they are received," USAID deputy spokesman Adam Ereli explained.
May 17, 2004 The Janjaweed militias who have been terrorizing western Sudan have attacked villages across the border in Chad and threaten to destabilize relations between the two countries. The scale and frequency of these cross-border raids appear to be increasing.
Arguing that a forceful UN resolution is needed on Darfur, Gareth Evans, president of the International Crisis Group, has also warned that “the time for forceful outside intervention is unmistakably approaching.” Rebel forces have stated that they will widen the conflict into central Sudan if they continue to be excluded from the peace negotiations between the North and South currently underway in Kenya and allegedly close to final agreement.
May 12, 2004 In testimony before the United Nations Security Council, acting UN Human Rights Chief, Bertrand Ramcharan, and James Morris, director of the World Food Program, pressed for increased action in response to Darfur. Ramcharan accused the government of a “reign of terror,” and argued, “this is taking place before our very eyes. No one can say they didn’t know.” But he continued, stating: "I condemn the government of Sudan and I do not think it was responsible." Although no action was immediately taken, James Cummingham, the United States' deputy U.N. ambassador, stated that the Security Council would continue to monitor government and militia actions over the next few weeks.
In a Congressional hearing Assistant Administrator for U.S. Agency for International Development, Roger Winter, addressed the humanitarian crisis: “In short, the agricultural cycle for this year has been lost. Even if people no longer feared the jingaweit and returned to their land, many would still die because the crops have already been destroyed. If they cannot return before the rainy season to plant, they will have no harvest for the next year.” And for the first time, the Sudanese government acknowledged the severity of the humanitarian crisis, but placed the blame on rebel fighters.
On May 9, an international team of observers led by the African Union with European Union and United States representatives, arrived in Al-Fashir, the capital of Western Darfur, to begin preparations for a mission to monitor the April 8 ceasefire agreement.
May 7, 2004 A new Human Rights Watch report accuses the Sudanese government of “ethnic cleansing” and crimes against humanity. Based on research conducted inside Darfur itself, Darfur Destroyed provides chilling details of massacres, summary executions and the violent depopulation of a vast swath of western Sudan by the Sudanese government and its militia allies.
Murder and rape are not the only threat civilians face - starvation and disease also loom, especially with the approach of the rainy season, which will render outside assistance largely impossible. According to Doctors without Borders, malnutrition is increasing and more cases of measles are being seen. The World Health Organization warns that diarrhea and malaria will follow once the rains begin at the end of May or in early June.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese government continues to prevent unimpeded humanitarian access to the displaced people still inside Sudan. A new UN assessment of one previously inaccessible town in southern Darfur found that the government is “deliberately starving” civilians. Armed guards are preventing the civilians from receiving food from outside or venturing forth in search of food. In just this one town, according to the UN officials, eight or nine children are dying every day from malnutrition. And it “is but one of several locations (in Darfur) where civilians are living under similar conditions without having been able to communicate their ordeal to the humanitarian community.”
The UN Security Council is set to hear a briefing on Darfur on May 7.
April 28, 2004 April 28: NEW USAID ESTIMATE: 350,000 TO DIE IN DARFUR
A new analysis by the U.S. Agency for International Development predicts that 350,000 people will die in Darfur in the next nine months. The deaths will be a direct result of government-supported violence: a) destruction of food stocks by government troops and allied militias that has taken away food that people need for the coming rainy season; b) displacement that has prevented people from planting crops for harvesting after the rainy season; and c) continuing government restrictions on humanitarian access that exacerbate the already extreme remoteness of the location. AID predicts 30% of the war affected population - currently 1.2 million - will die because of this largely irreversible, entirely man-made crisis.
According to AID chief Andrew Natsios: "Food is running out, sanitary conditions are terrible, disease is beginning to spread, the child mortality rates are rising at an alarming rate and we are facing a deadline."
A Washington Post editorial points out that Khartoum’s denial of UN access to Darfur and its continuing violation of the April 8 ceasefire calls into doubt whether it can be trusted to honor an imminent peace agreement that would resolve the country’s other major conflict, the civil war in the South.
The Post paired that editorial with a sharp denunciation of the acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for seeking to suppress his own staff’s highly critical report documenting Khartoum’s “reign of terror” in Darfur.
The report was based on interviews with refugees who fled Darfur to neighboring Chad. Khartoum sought to forestall release of the report by agreeing to let the investigators come to Darfur itself, where they arrived over the weekend.
April 26, 2004 A new UN report, which the Khartoum government tried to suppress, was leaked to the press on April 22. Based on interviews with refugees who fled Darfur to neighboring Chad, the report documents a “reign of terror” by the Khartoum government and its allied “janjaweed,” including:
• Repeated attacks on civilians by Government of Sudan military and its proxy militia forces;
• The use of systematic and indiscriminate aerial bombardments and ground attacks on unarmed civilians;
• The use of disproportionate force by the Government of Sudan and Janjaweed forces;
• That the Janjaweed have operated with total impunity and in close coordination with the forces of the Government of Sudan;
• The attacks appear to have been ethnically based with the groups targeted being essentially the following tribes reportedly of African origin: Zaghawas, Masaalit, and Furs. Men and young boys appear to have been particularly targeted in ground attacks;
• The pattern of attacks on civilians includes killing, rape, pillage, including livestock, and destruction of property, including water sources.
The Government of Sudan sought to delay release of the report because the annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission was preparing to consider a resolution condemning the human rights situation in Sudan.
On Friday, April 23, the Human Rights Commission approved a mild statement expressing “deep concern” and its “solidarity with the Sudan in overcoming the current situation.” Khartoum’s Information Minister praised the Commission action as a triumph for truth. The Commission decided to appoint an Independent Expert to report next year at the Commission’s annual meeting.
The United States voted against the statement because it failed to clearly condemn Khartoum for “ethnic cleansing.” U.S. Ambassador Richard Williamson told the Commission that “it had failed to meet its responsibilities” by not condemning Khartoum. He said that the U.S. would demand an emergency session of the Commission to consider further action on Darfur.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch released new evidence of government coordination with the janjaweed militias in attacks on civilians. According to Ken Roth, HRW executive director, “These militias work in unison with government troops, with total impunity for their massive crimes.”
April 21, 2004 Darfur got a burst of attention around the 10th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, including statements by both President Bush and UN Secretary-General Annan.
The Khartoum government responded by agreeing to a ceasefire, which it immediately flouted. Now, the head of the World Health Organization says "time is running short" for the close to a million civilians driven from the homes. Meanwhile, Khartoum has played cat-and-mouse with the UN on whether and when UN humanitarian and human rights officials will be allowed to visit Darfur.
Amnesty International focused attention on the use of systematic rape by government-allied “janjaweed” militias.
Information about humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons in Chad and Darfur can be found at the website of InterAction, the American Council for Voluntary International Action.
April 7, 2004 Tens of thousands of civilians have died and close to a million driven from their homes in Sudan’s western region of Darfur. 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 “janjaweed.”
According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as many as 100,000 civilians may die over the coming months.
The Khartoum-based government fuels ethnic and racial violence by using the “janjaweed” militias as its proxies against Darfur insurgents. But it is civilians who suffer. The government used similar tactics in southern Sudan, with devastating effects on civilians:
• pitting ethnic groups against each other;
• restricting international humanitarian access, which threatens mass starvation; and
• bombing civilian targets with aircraft.
Although the Sudanese government has restricted access to the region, refugees fleeing to neighboring Chad provide chilling testimony.
They report that the government-allied militias are torching villages, murdering civilians, raping women and girls, burning food supplies and destroying water sources. One refugee told New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof that “the Arabs want to get rid of anyone with black skin. . . . There are no blacks left” in the area he fled. According to a European Union delegate, the government-supported militias are “running riot in the countryside.” Roger Winter, a top USAID official, says that “what feeds into the ethnic cleansing scenario is that the government does not seem interested in protecting the Darfur people against the [militia] raids.”
