The Role of the United States in the Darfur Genocide

By Mark Hoerrner

It’s been nearly four years since Sudan’s internal conflict started. More than 200,000 non-Muslim Sudanese have been raped and/or slaughtered and more than two million people now reside in makeshift refugee camps.

Yet, the U.S. has done nothing. For some time, the U.S. State Department would not even call the situation in Darfur a genocide while it argued internally over policy tactics and what responsibility the U.S. would have once the situation was upgraded to reflect the mass slaughter taking place in the African nation.

An interview on CBS’s "60 Minutes" program with a doctor residing in Darfur noted that the genocide will be hard to stop while the U.S. relies on the Sudanese government for intelligence in the war on terror. Apparently, Sudan has been very forthcoming with information on various cells around the world, leading the U.S. to take an almost blind position with respect to the daily carnage in Darfur. The statements of witnesses are hard to hear and perhaps that is the true reason for the lack of action.

"Usually before the attacks happen," one witness to the horror said, "the government troops will surround a village and begin firing artillery into the area. Shortly after that, the Janjaweed will ride in. They pull everyone out of the buildings and separate the men and women. The women are raped—not by one man, but by many, many men—and then killed. Anyone who escapes is then killed by the Sudanese Army troops outside the village. The men are cut into pieces and those pieces are dropped into the wells. All of the buildings are burned. Once they are done and the fires have stopped, it’s like the village never existed."

In 2004, the United Nations Security Council passed resolution 1556 that demands the Sudanese government disarm the Janjaweed militia which it uses to fight two separate rebel groups. This was not followed and the U.N. has not bolstered forces in the region to enforce the resolution. In 2006, a peace agreement was signed with one of the rebel factions that included the 2004 resolution as a key element. In August of 2006, the U.N. authorized a peacekeeping force in the region, but the lack of implementation has made the U.N. presence in the area one of little concern for a government that continues a daily campaign of terror and murder against its own citizens.

At least the U.S. remains the largest contributor to the humanitarian aid being distributed in the camps. The U.S. has pledged $299 million in aid through next year, although only about $140 million has been spent thus far.

The latest act by the U.N. is to transition the current African Union forces into the larger U.N. peacekeeping force that should give the region some stability. Still, without the commitment of military forces from the U.S. and with the U.S. facing a war on two fronts already, it’s likely that the process of restoring peace in the area will be a long and arduous road.