Darfur

Since February 2003, the Sudanese government in Khartoum and the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia have used rape, displacement, organized starvation and mass murder to kill more than 400,000 and displace 2.5 million. Violence, disease and displacement continue to kill thousands of innocent Darfurians every month.

Long-term peace in Darfur requires that the government of Sudan, the Janjaweed militia forces and the rebel groups of Darfur find a way to resolve their political and economic disputes. The international community managed to broker a peace deal in May 2006, but violence in Darfur actually increased in the wake of this deal.

A United Nations resolution in August 2006 authorized the deployment of a force of over 17,000 UN troops to Darfur. However, the UN has insisted on securing the "consent" of the Sudanese government for such a force. For its part, the government of Sudan recently launched another attack in Darfur, in violation of the May peace agreement, and continues to adamantly refuse the deployment of an effective force.

Thousands of innocent civilians continue to die from murder, disease, and starvation every month. Today, millions of displaced civilians living in refugee camps are in dire need of international support as the violence continues.

At this time, human security is the highest priority for the people of Darfur. The world has left the responsibility of providing security to the African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. As Sally Chin of Refugees International has noted, the world has given the African Union "the responsibility to protect, but not the power to protect." We must now work to ensure that the world fulfills its responsibility to protect the civilians of Darfur.