Brian Steidle, an American who served with the African Union in Darfur, took this photo as he watched militias allied with Sudanese government systematically destroy this village, Um Zaifa. View more photos illustrating the role of the Sudanese government in Darfur: using helicopter gunships, conducting aerial attacks, burning food supplies, and harassing displaced people.

The main groups being targeted are the Zaghawa, Fur, and Masalit. A Zaghawa refugee recalls hearing, "Slaves, run! Leave the country. You don't belong; why are you not leaving this area for the Arab cattle to graze?" during an attack by Janjaweed militia. Read more about the ethnically targeted attacks in a State Department report, Documenting Atrocities in Darfur

In what UN Secretary General Kofi Annan described as a "deliberate strategy," women and girls have been raped both during attacks on their villages and around camps for displaced persons. Girls as young as 8 years old have been targeted for sexual violence. Learn more about how women have been targeted in Darfur and the long-term effects of rape and genocide in Rwanda.

One Darfurian woman told Physicians for Human Rights that as she fled an assault on her village, she heard an attacker say, "Don't bother, don't waste the bullet, they've got nothing to eat and they'll die of hunger." Displaced Darfurians have suffered and died because of starvation, disease, and exposure. Those who make it to camps find themselves reliant on international aid that is often inadequate and disrupted due to violence.

Committee on Conscience Staff Director Jerry Fowler met this woman, Hawa Salihdin, and her children in the Idrimi refugee camp in Chad. Hawa, who lost several members of her family in a militia attack on her village, asked him, "What about my mother, what about my mother? I don't know if she's alive or dead." He responded by saying that he would take her mother's name back and tell her story so that others would learn about and help stop the genocide in Darfur. Her mother's name is Hadiya Ahmed. Learn more about Jerry Fowler's interviews with Darfurian refugees and how you can join our efforts.