The genocide continues. More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced during 3 years of ethic conflict in Darfur. Now, the violence is spreading and threatening the stability of neighboring countries.

Death is no stranger in Tawila, Sudan, where thousands of Darfurians are crowded into a sprawling, make-shift refugee camp. Malaria and diarrhea course through the camp, picking off children first, then the elderly. And the conflict between black Africans and goverment-backed Arab militiamen called janjaweed drives more people into the camp every day.
Since 2003, more than 200,000 civilians have been killed in Darfur---a vast, arid region of western Sudan. Sudan is located south of Egypt and west of Ethiopia. Another 2.5 million people have been displaced and are living in refugee camps, mostly in Chad, which is west of Sudan.
The conflict pits Arab Africans against black Africans. (Both are Muslim.) It started in 2003, when rebels began demanding greater political and economic rights for the black Darfurians from the Arab-dominated Sudanese goverment in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The goverment responded by turning loose the janjaweed. On horses and camels, these armed militiamen continue to storm into black African villages, torching houses, stealing cattle, destroying crops, and raping and killing villagers.

Humanitarian Crisis:

The war in Darfur has led to what the U.N. has called the "world's worst humanitarian crisis." Over the past year, the conflict has spread into Chad, and hundreds of thousands of Chadians have become refugees in their own country. In the refugee camps, people are dying because they cannot get medical care, clean water, or enough food.
Relief organizations are trying to prevent these deaths, but their ranks and resources are shrinking. The World Food Program says that a shortage of money is forcing it to cut in half the amount of food it distributes to Darfur refugees. Many countries have not sent the money they have pledged; the U.S. says it supplies 85% of the food aid going to Darfur. The Darfur crisis also affects the stability of neighboring countries. Chad accuses Sudan of backing rebels who have tried to overthrow its goverment, while Sudan claims that Chad backs anti-goverment rebels in Darfur. Violence is also spilling over into the Central African Republic.

Keeping the U.N. out:

In May 2006, the Sudanese goverment and the largest of the Darfur rebel groups signed a peace agreement. A cease-fire was to take affect, and the janjaweed and rebel forces were to disarm. But new battles broke out, as rebel fractions turned on eachother.
The U.S. has pressed President Omar al-Bashir to let U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur since the 7,000 African Union troops already there are not able to provide adequate security. But the goverment, which continues to deny backing the janjaweed, refuses to let the U.N. in.
In Khartoum, the picture is quite different. Money from the countries oil boom is very much on display with office towers rising and wealthy Sudanese filling the cafes, even as people are dying 600 miles away in Darfur.
Oil's influence also helps explain the lack of a stronger U.N. response. Security Council diplomats say that action against Sudan, including sanctions, is being resisted by China, which buys Sudan's oil; Russia, which has helped Sudan develop its oil industry and has sold weapons to the goverment, and Qatar, the Council's Arab representative.
Sudanese officials have placed tight restrictions on relief organizations, and aid workers are increasingly vulnerable to attack. On December 9, gunmen on horseback ambushed a truck carrying medicine and aid in Darfur, killing about 30 civilians; some of them were burned alive.

"The situation for humanitarian workers and the United Nations has never been as bad as it is now," says an aid offical. "The space for us to work is just getting smaller and smaller."



The conflict gets closer to waging an all out civil war everyday. I am here to say, that as human beings, we cannot allow other human beings to be treated in such a way. If you have bothered to put aside your ever-important lives long enough to read this, please continue on to list your name and your own personal thoughts. I think it is high time we show the world and eachother, we will not stand by and watch others suffer. You never know who shares your opinions or is truly willing to listen.



1. Angel Thurman: My thoughts have already been shared in creating this. It, and all the other inhumane acts going on our world, disgust me and makes me ashamed to call these horrible people fellow humans.

2. Jason Cooper: This just shows how pathetic the world actually is. We fight over nothing and watch innocent people die because of petty conflicts. Someone needs to do something; we need to try and find some peaceful resolution before more innocent people die.

3. Curtis Russell: My only question is why could we do this to one another? They are our brothers. Our sisters. No matter what is different about them. Faith, Religion, Skin Color, and anything else you use to set aside that we all feel the same. Wheather its the way we feel emotionally or physically. Its all petty bullshit. So my question is, I hate seeing people die. Dont you?