Human Rights Council
Genocide in Darfur
Darfur is a region in Sudan, a large African country. The citizens of this drought-prone area are in the midst of genocide. Prior to this catastrophe, Darfur was a rich and eclectic culture of six million people from about 80 ethnic groups who peacefully coexisted as subsistence farmers and nomadic herders. Having been oppressed since 2003, over 400,000 civilians have been murdered. Additionally, over 2.5 million Darfuri residents have had to flee their homes due to brutal violence and danger. Many have relocated to camps in Sudan or to neighboring nations of Chad and the Central African Republic. What prompted this genocide? The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice Equality Movement (JEM) are two Darfuri rebel groups who launched attacked on the Sudanese government’s oppressive military installations, the Janjaweed. They claimed the government was oppressing black Africans in favor of Arabs. In response, the Janjaweed has targeted specific ethnic groups from which the SLM and JEM received support. With hundreds of villages completely destroyed, President George W. Bush called the conflict "genocide" for the first time in 2004. In 2006, he issued the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, supporting peacekeeping efforts. In 2007, it was announced that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir agreed to a 60-day ceasefire period for peace arrangements, but violence continued. Since then, the government has made peace with one sect of the SLM, but continues to mercilessly fight the JEM and other SLM factions. In 2008, 7,000 under-equipped African peacekeepers were replaced by 26,000 United Nations-African Union peacekeepers (UNAMID) after the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1706. Nonetheless, UNAMID lacks the necessary resources and international assistance to successfully stop the Janjaweed and terminate this crime against humanity. In 2008 the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed against Omar al-Bashir ten war crime charges, three charges of genocide, two of murder and five of crimes against humanity. However, his arrest warrant has not been granted, and no trial is expected soon, as al-Bashir would be the first sitting head of state to be charged with genocide. (Earlier, humanitarian affairs minister Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb were charged with 51 counts of war crimes.) Besides the neighboring countries who shelter Darfuri refugees, several countries have aided the citizens, such as the United Kingdom, which supported al-Bashir’s arrest and the deployment of UNAMID peacekeepers, and Israel, which granted citizenship to refugees. Additionally, Amnesty International has called for international intervention while avoiding the term "genocide."