Crisis in Darfur

The humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in this little-known region of western Sudan since 2003 has gone largely unnoticed in the outside world. But thousands have been killed and millions have been driven from their homes. The world community must not ignore this crisis any longer.

Since early 2003 rival groups have been engaged in an armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan. In response to an uprising by two groups in the region, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the government of Sudan has given major support to Arab militias in the region known as the Janjaweed (guns on horseback). The resulting conflict has led to the displacement of nearly a million refugees in the region, mostly women and children who face the prospect of prolonged suffering from lack of food and other necessities in this poor region.

The burned out village of Burunga, Darfur.

The government of Sudan has allowed free rein to the Janjawid, who have attacked villages, killed, raped and abducted people, destroyed homes and other property, including water sources, and looted livestock. At times government troops also attacked villages alongside the Janjaweed, and government aircraft have bombed villages, sometimes just before Janjaweed attacks, suggesting that these attacks were coordinated.

Women and children seek safety at a refugee camp in Mornay, Darfur.

The Janjaweed have killed tens of thousands of civilians, and driven more than a million people from their homes. Large areas of Darfur have been depopulated and are in ruins. The United Nations estimates that nearly a million internally displaced people in Darfur have fled from their burnt villages and taken refuge within Darfur, mostly in towns and camps, often in very poor conditions, while more than 120,000 have crossed the border into Chad.

The United Nations and other international relief agencies have been slow to respond to the crisis in Darfur. Only recently has the Sudanese government agreed to allow U.N. relief agencies into Darfur province to care for more than a million homeless civilians. But Khartoum has raised new obstacles that could delay the delivery of lifesaving supplies to the area for months, according to a senior U.N. official. Sudanese officials have told the U.N. Children's Fund that all medical supplies shipped into the country must be tested at Sudanese laboratories. Khartoum has also insisted that food and other relief supplies be transported on Sudanese trucks and distributed exclusively by Sudanese charities or government agencies. United Nations' officials have warned that hundreds of thousands will die from disease or starvation in Darfur unless international relief agencies are granted full access to the region.

U.S. and U.N. officials have ruled out sending peacekeeping forces to the Darfur region. Perhaps that is because, in the words of one U.N. official, "the region is calm now because there are no more villages to burn." But the suffering continues. This little known region of the world has taken its place among the worst humanitarian disasters of our time. And hardly anyone cares.

Resources on the Darfur crisis from Human Rights Watch.

Save Darfur

Darfur: A Genocide We Can Stop

Visit Oxfam and see how you can help.

View an interactive feature on Darfur from the New York Times.