Background on Darfur
In February 2003, civil unrest broke out among black African rebel groups in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, seeking equal rights from the Arab Government of Sudan (GOS). In response, the GOS began sponsoring militias among Arab nomadic tribes to squelch the rebellion. These militias have become known as the Janjaweed, meaning “devil on a horse”. The Janjaweed are well-armed and directed by the GOS. Together they have launched widespread, systematic attacks on the civilian population with the shared goal of eliminating all black African tribes in Darfur. The violence is not based on religion, but a complexity of factors including race, political power, equal rights, and access to land and economic resources, among others. The African population of Darfur is predominately Muslim, as are the Arab-led government and the Janjaweed militias. The attacks have been so brutal and deadly, including the use of torture, rape, looting and destruction, that many, including the American government have called this conflict genocide. Since 2003 experts estimate that as many as 400,000 Africans have perished and around 2.5 – 3 million have been displaced by the violence. This ongoing ethnic and racial cleansing engineered by the GOS is threatening to extinguish the black African population from the Darfur region completely.

Survivor testimony and eye-witness accounts confirm that militia members and government troops have systematically bombed and then burned African villages, tortured civilians, raped thousands of women, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of villagers and forced the remaining to flee their homes with nothing. Black African civilians have been locked in their huts and burned alive. Torture before execution is common, men are often castrated, their eyes plucked out and their ears and limbs cut off. Rape is used as a further tool of genocide. The GOS drops bombs from Antonov aircraft and uses helicopters to fire rockets filled with tiny nails that tear through human bodies.

Millions trapped within Sudan and those who have escaped to neighboring Chad are forced to live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps or refugee camps, while humanitarian aid groups struggle to meet their basic needs for survival. Within Sudan, the government consistently impedes the ability of the African Union peace monitors and aid workers to assess the violence and treat the needs. It is estimated that at the height of the conflict up to 15,000 people were dying each month both on account of the violence and also as a result of the difficulties surviving homeless in the harsh desert climate. Difficulties include disease, lack of medical care for injuries, shortages of water and food, and inadequate shelter.

Women and children unarguably bear the greatest burden of this conflict. IDP camps are filled with families that have lost their fathers. Most significantly, rape is used as a widespread tool of war. During attacks, girls as young as 8, women as old as 78, and even pregnant women, have reported being gang raped by Arab militias. Even after relocation to IDP camps, women are forced to leave the camps daily to seek firewood with the almost certain risk of rape from the Janjaweed militias. Women are also sexually assaulted even within the supposed safety of the IDP camps. Frequently, rape victims are ostracized and others face unwanted pregnancies. When women report their rapes, they are often arrested for having sex out of marriage or experiencing an “illegal pregnancy”. Many are required to undergo virginity testing, and others face sexual assault within prison. When women finally are able to return home and rebuild their lives, many are abandoned by their parents or husbands because they are now considered “tainted”. Countless women are left to support themselves and their unwanted children alone.

US Congress has unanimously agreed that genocide is taking place in Darfur.