Darfur Genocide

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Darfur Genocide

• Never Again, Again?
• Presented by STAND
• Students Take Action Now Darfur

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Darfurian refugee women
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Mother and Children in Refugee Camp
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Refugee Camp
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Where is Darfur?
Darfur is located in the western region of Sudan
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What is Genocide?

• Genocide is the systematic and planned killing of
  an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic
  group.
• On September 9, 2004 Secretary of State Colin
  Powell said
  Genocide has been committed in Darfur and that
  the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear
  responsibility -- and that genocide may still be
  occurring.

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Genocide (cont.)

• June 24th, 2004, for the first time in its
  history, the Committee on Conscience of the
  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum declared
  a genocide emergency in the Sudan
• On July 22, 2004 the U.S. Congress passed
  resolutions declaring Genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
• On January 25, 2005, the United Nations
  Commission of Inquiry declared government forces
  and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks,
  including killing of civilians, torture, enforced
  disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and
  other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and
  forced displacement, throughout Darfur. These
  acts were conducted on a widespread and
  systematic basis ... The vast majority of the
  victims of all of these violations have been from
  the Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit, Jebel, Aranga and
  other so-called 'African' tribes.

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History of the Conflict

• Open warfare erupted in Darfur in early 2003 when
  the two loosely allied rebel groups, the Sudan
  Liberation Movement/Army (SLA) and the Justice
  and Equality Movement (JEM), attacked military
  installations. This followed closely with peace
  agreements brokered by the United States to end
  the twenty-year-old civil warlink
  BackgroundOnNorthSouth996.doc in the south of
  Sudan which allocated government positions and
  oil revenue to the rebels in the south. At that
  time, rebels in Darfur, seeking an end to the
  region's chronic economic and political
  marginalization, also took up arms to protect
  their communities against a twenty-year campaign
  by government-backed militias recruited among
  groups of Arab extraction in Darfur and Chad.

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History (Cont.)

• The war, which risks inflicting irreparable
  damage on a delicate ethnic balance of seven
  million people who are uniformly Muslim, is
  actually multiple intertwined conflicts. One is
  between government-aligned forces and rebels a
  second entails indiscriminate attacks of the
  government-sponsored Janjaweed militia on
  civilians and a third involves a struggle among
  Darfur communities themselves. Its implications
  go far beyond Darfur's borders. The war
  indirectly threatens the regimes in both Sudan
  and Chad and has the potential to inspire
  insurgencies in other parts of the country.

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a
I was sleeping when the attack on Disa
village started. I was taken away by the
attackers, they were all in uniforms. They took
dozens of other girls and mde us walk for three
hours. During the day we were beaten and they
were telling us "You, the black women, we will
exterminate you, you have no god." At night we
were raped several times. The Arabs guarded us
with arms and we were not given food for three
days. Female refugee from Disa
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Facts

• An estimated 400,000 innocent civilians have been
  brutally murdered
• More than 200,000 people have been forced from
  their homes and have fled to refugee camps in
  neighboring Chad.
• Over 1.5 million people have been internally
  displaced.
• More than 10,000 people die each month.
• As many as 1 million civilians could die in
  Darfur from lack of food and from disease within
  coming months

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The majority of the victims are from the Fur,
Zaghawa, Massalit, Jebel, Aranga and other
African tribes.
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Who are the Janjaweed?

• The Arab Janjaweed are the militiamen who are
  responsible for the mass killings.
• Janjaweed is Arabic for Devil on a horse
• The Government of Sudan is undeniably linked to
  the Janjaweed.
• The Janjaweed systematically gang rape women and
  girls, castrate, brand and beat men and boys, and
  torture all.

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Here's Zahra. After her husband and sons were
murdered, the Janjaweed carried her and her
sisters off and gang-raped them. The sisters were
murdered, and Zahra was finally released, naked,
after the Janjaweed slashed her leg to mark her
forever.
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The Janjaweed raid villages, burn the homes,
destroy the crops and poison the wells. Survivors
from the attacks are unable to return home
because their villages are inhabitable.
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What is the U.S. Doing?

• Although they can and must do more, the United
  States has done more than any other nation in the
  world. The Bush Administration has provided the
  most funding to the Darfur relief effort.
• In early-March, 2005 Senators Sam Brownback (KS)
  and Jon Corzine (NJ) introduced into the Senate
  the Darfur Accountability Act (S 495). In
  mid-March, 2005 Representative Donald Payne of
  New Jersey introduced the Darfur Genocide
  Accountability Act (HR 1424). Neither of these
  bills have been passed into law.
• The FY05 Emergency Supplemental bill approved
  90.5 million in relief to Darfur (50 million
  for the African Union mission in Darfur and 40.5
  million for disaster aid)

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What is the World Doing?

• The U.N. Security Council has passed several
  ineffective resolutions. The resolutions, which
  are all bark and no bite, are repeatedly violated
  by the Sudanese government.
• The African Union (AU) currently has 2500 troops
  in Sudan. The AU remains grossly under-funded
  and ineffective. Many more peacekeeping troops
  are needed in the region.

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This family fled their village after their father
and brother were killed, and then the mother fell
ill and could no longer walk. So now the family
is headed by Haiga Ibrahim, a 16-year-old girl,
who is on the left.
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Bahria Mohammed Ahmed, right, with her mother at
Abu Shouk camp. Two of her children disappeared
as the family trekked toward refuge, and she
arrived this week without them.
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"I talked to scores of refugees who several weeks
ago watched as their wives were raped and as
their brothers and fathers and sons were killed
before their eyes. Scattered. Entire villages
wiped out. It's savagery. It's slaughter, and it
is going on, in essence, as we speak." U.S.
Senator Bill Frist
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Children like Magboula are particularly at risk
because they no longer are nursing and need food,
but are particularly likely to die of diarrhea,
malaria and other ailments. Seventy percent of
the deaths are children under five.
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The main cause of death in the refugee camps is
diarrhea which account for ¼ of the recorded
deaths.
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80 of the children under five years old are
suffering from severe malnutrition
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These two orphans from Darfur fled to the
northern part of the Chad/Sudan border after
their parents, uncle and older brother were
either killed or went missing in an attack by the
Janjaweed militia on their village, Ab-Layha.
Nijah Ahmed, 4, is carrying her little brother,
Nibraz, who is 13 months old and malnourished.
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At 7am in August 2003, our village was
surrounded by the Janjaweed we heard machine
guns and most of the people ran away, some were
killed while trying to escape. My sister, M, aged
43, was captured by the military and the
Janjaweed. They tried to sleep with her. She
resisted, I was present and could hear her "I
will not do something like this even if you kill
me" and they immediately killed her. I, from
Miski.
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Theyre trying to kill all of the children in
order to wipe out the next generation.
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Due to drought and poisoned wells, water is
becoming scarcer which will contribute to
increased deaths.
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When we tried to escape they shot more
children. They raped women I saw many cases of
Janjaweed raping women and girls. They are happy
when they rape. They sing when they rape and they
tell that we are just slaves and that they can do
with us how they wish. A, a 37-year-old from
Mukjar
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What Can You Do?

• Write a letter to
• President Bush
• Your Representatives and Senators
• The United Nations
• The State Department
• Collect signatures for a petition calling for a
  strong response to the crisis in Darfur.
• Demonstrate. Organize and/or participate in
  demonstrations at the Sudan Embassy in Washington
  D.C. and Sudan Mission and/or UN in NYC.

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What Can You Do?

• Donate money to relief efforts.
• Fast. Fasting for a day is not only a very
  personal way to tap into your compassion for the
  suffering of others, but also a very powerful way
  to act in solidarity with the people of Darfur.
  Hold a Sudan fast in solidarity with those who
  are suffering from hunger and donate the funds
  that would have been spent on meal.
• Hold a fundraiser or benefit for Darfur. Funds
  are desperately needed throughout Darfur and Chad
  to deliver food, shelter, medical supplies and
  humanitarian relief.
• Host a candle-lighting ceremony or candlelight
  vigil.  
• Invite Experts who are working in the region to
  discuss the current situation.

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What Can You Do (Cont.)

• Meet with members of Congress as a delegation
• Organize a small gathering. You can distribute
  information or watch a video about Darfur.
• Organize a teach-in or a presentation.
• Post flyers around your community.  
• Push your local community council to pass a
  proclamation.
• Put together a photo exhibit.
• Wear a Not On My Watch Save Darfur wristband.
• Write an email to a friend and explain why this
  story moves you.