Since February 2003, Sudanese government forces and their proxy militia known as Janjaweed (evil men on horseback) have been engaging in genocidal campaigns to displace and wipe out communities of African tribal farmers in Darfur, Sudan.

According to the findings of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (January 25, 2005), Sudanese government officials and the Janjaweed are responsible for “the killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement throughout Darfur. “

This campaign of destruction and displacement is calculated to ensure the loss of livelihood and means of survival, purposely forcing hundreds of thousands of men, women and children to face starvation and disease.

John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group calls it “Rwanda in slow motion,” others call it “genocide by famine. “

The brutal violence and forced displacement directly affects more than 2 1/2 million people who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Some 1.85 million people have been displaced from their homes and nearly 200,000 have fled across the border to Chad.

Many now live in hastily erected IDP (internally displaced persons) camps lacking adequate food, water, shelter, medical care and security. Conservative estimates put the number of fatalities as a result of violence, disease and malnutrition at 400,000 since the crisis began. As many as 500 people are dying every day.

Reprinted with permission from American Jewish World Service