Sudan/Darfur Crisis Fact Sheet #2
 

The 'Heart Wrenching' Conflict in the Darfur Region
June 3, 2005

The world’s worst humanitarian crisis has been unfolding in the Darfur region of Sudan, and yet the response from the international community has been slow and inadequate. The United Nations says that about 180,000 people have died in the two-year conflict in Darfur, and more than two million driven from their homes.

Hunger, lack of water, and disease are increasing the numbers of deaths daily.
Similar to the genocide that took place in Rwanda and the “ethnic cleansing” of Muslims in Bosnia, civilian populations in Darfur have been targeted. The Sudanese government and the Arab Janjaweed militias it arms and supports have committed numerous and vicious attacks on the civilian populations of Darfur.

Based on accounts from refugees recorded by human rights groups and NGOs, militiamen ride into Darfur villages on horses and camels, slaughtering the men and boys, raping the women and girls and stealing whatever they can find. They have destroyed villages, food stocks and other supplies essential to the civilian population.

Many abandoned villages have been destroyed including livestock, food stores, wells and pumps, blankets and clothing – anything that can sustain life. Even when the villages are left intact, the hundreds of thousands of refugees are unwilling to return to Darfur unless their security is protected. “If we return,” one refugee told Human Rights Watch, “we will be killed.”

The roots of the present conflict in Darfur are complex and have historical roots in tribal feuds and scarce natural resources as the region becomes more desert-like. The U.N. reports that two armed rebel groups began organizing themselves in 2001 and 2002 in opposition to the Khartoum Government reportedly over economic and social marginalization of Darfur. Sudanese authorities responded not only with their own military attacks but by calling upon local, mostly Arab nomadic tribes, to assist in the fighting against the rebels. These Janjaweed militias have committed widespread atrocities, such as mass killings and mass rapes.

During a late May visit to Darfur. United Nations chief Kofi Annan called for rapid action to end the violence. He visited the Kalma refugee camp, near the town of Nyala, which is home to 120,000 people. Tribal leaders told him that in recent months 56 people had been killed in the camp and 580 women and girls had been sexually assaulted. They blamed the attacks on Arab pro-government militias and Sudanese police. Afterwards, he said what he had heard had been "heart-wrenching".

Annan emphasized the need for peace in Darfur, during talks in the capital Khartoum with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail. During the same week, international donors promised an extra $200 million for peacekeeping in the region at a conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. (Sources: BBC News, CNN)

A force of 2,400 African Union (AU) peacekeepers have been unable to stop the killings and rapes so the refugees can return to their homes. The AU force is scheduled to expand to about 12,000 by spring 2006.

Sources: Human Rights Watch, USA Today, United Nations reports, BBC News, Washington Post, CNN.