Dear Mr. Secretary-General,

Along with the rest of the international community, I have followed recent events in the Darfur province of the Sudan with great concern.  As you know, Sudan has been ravaged by civil war intermittently for over four decades.  In Darfur alone, an estimated 2.61 million people have been affected by the conflict, including at least 1.8 million who have been displaced from there homes within Darfur, 200,000 who have become refugees in neighboring countries, and 70,000 who have died, according to the United Nations - although reliable estimates of the number killed range as high as 400,000. 

In 2004, the United States Congress unanimously declared that the violence in Darfur was genocide.  Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of many, the situation for the innocent civilians of Darfur has worsened.  The Sudanese Army is undertaking a military offensive in Darfur and international efforts to protect civilians are faltering.  The conflict has spread beyond the borders of the Sudan, affecting the already festering civil conflicts in Chad and the Central African Republic.  The implications of this crisis for the people of Darfur and the entire region warrant the consideration of this situation as the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, demanding a corresponding amount of attention to this matter.

The world and the United States need to continue applying pressure to the Sudanese government and other parties involved in the conflict.  The government has failed to implement key provisions in previous agreements, allowing the atrocities in the Darfur region of western Sudan to continue unabated.  In coordinated attacks, government air raids have cleared the path for Janjaweed militants to ride into villages.  This overt support for a campaign of genocide makes the Sudanese government nothing less than an accessory to these atrocities.

As the crisis has unfolded, the United Nations has been a key player in steering international aid to the people of Darfur and providing a forum through which to negotiate the deployment of peacekeeping forces in the region.  During your first months in office as Secretary General, you have pledged to continue the UN’s critical role in addressing this crisis.  I have been encouraged by your steps thus far to follow through with this pledge, particularly the UN’s public recognition in March of the Sudanese government role in the crisis.  I urge you to not only continue, but to increase your focus on this crisis.  Your ascension to the office of Secretary-General has created a unique opportunity to introduce a fresh perspective and a new approach to the solution of this problem. 

I hope that you will make ending this conflict the top priority of your term as Secretary-General, and I pledge my support to any efforts you undertake to come to a solution to this crisis that protects the people of Darfur, holds the Sudanese government accountable, and takes steps to defuse the unstable situation in the region.  Thank you for your service and attention to this tragic issue.

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