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Tinre N'la_qazine
October4.2004
The first sound ZaharaAbdulkarirnheardwhen she woke that last tnorning in her village was the drone of lvarplattes
circling overhead.Then came gunshotsand screamsand the sickeningcrashof bornbsripping through her
huts.gouging cratersinto the dry earth.When Abdulkarinr.25. ran outside.she was
neighbors'rrrud-and-thatch
confrontedby two rrrenin rnilitary urriforrn.one wielding a knife, the other a whip.
They were nrembers.she says.of the Arab militia known as the Janjaweed"which over tlte past I8 rtrontltshas
slaughteredtens of thousandsof black Africans like Abdulkarintacrossthe westernSudaneseregion of Darfirr.
Another man, rifle in hand.was standingover her husband'sbody while othersset fire to her home. Two of the
intruders.she says.grabbed her and forced her to the ground. With her husband'sbody a few yards away. the men
took turns raping her. They called her a dog and a donkey."This year.there'sno God exceptus," Abdulkarim says
they told her. "We are your god now." When they were finished,one of the men drew his knife and slasheddeep
acrossAbdulkarim'sleft thigh. a few inchesaboveher knee.The scarwould mark her as a slave,they told her, or
onteninthetownofAbliehhad
b r a n d h e r l i k e o n e o f t h e i r c a r n e l s . B y n i g h t f a l l . s a y s A b d u l k a r i m , f f l ol r0e0t w
ha
been rapedand dozensof peoplekilled, includingtwo of her sons.four of her in-laws and her husband.The only
survivorsirr her compoundwere Abdulkarim and her son Mohammed.6. "They also wantedto kill me. but when
they sar,vI was pregnant.they releasedme and let nre live," she says.1-hatwas eight montltsago. Shelteringin a
refugeecantp in neighboringChad. Abdulkarinr,her baby Mustafaplaying in her lap"saysshe r,villnever go honre.
say tile violencethat has
Darfur is firll of storieslike Abdullcarinr's.Aid workersand human-rightsresearchers
convulsedwesternSudansince February2003, and the ensuinglrungerand disease.has killed up to 50.000people
and forced some 1.4 nrillion fiom their honres.Human-rightsgroupsestintatethat thousandsmore are displaced
every week. Hundredsof wonren have beenraped,including4l in a singleepisodeof gang rape last Februaryin the
town of Tawila. The vast nra.iorityof the atrocitieshave beencarried out by nrembersof the Janiaweed,an
ethnically Arab nrilitia of horse-mountedbanditswho receivefinancialand rnilitary supporl lrom the Sudanese
government.which commissionedthernto put down an insurgencyby the region'stton-ArabMuslims.
The tJnitedNations saysthe pogrom has createdthe worst humanitariandisasterin the world today.'fhe World
Health Organizatiorrfound that the deathrate in Darfur was threetirnesthe emergencythreshold.with hundreds
dying of diseaseevery day and tensof thousandslikely to die by the end of the year.Testifling beforethe Lt.S.
Congressthis rnonth.LJ.S.Secretaryof StateColin Powell declaredthat the horrorscommitted in Darfirr deservethe
ultirrratesanction."We concluded- | concluded- that genocidehas beencommittedin Dartirr.and that the
governnlentof Sudanand the Janiaweedbearresponsibility,and that genocidernay still be occurring:" Powell said.
But professionsof outragehave done nothing to stop the killing. lmmediatelyafter labelingthe Janiaweed's
slaughtergenocide.Porvelltold lawrnakers,"No new action is dictatedby this determination"-despitethe fact that
the internationalGenocideConvention,signedby the U.S. and 134 othercountries.obligatessignatoriesto "prevent
and to punish" genocidewhere it is occurring.Already stretchedthin in Afghanistanand lraq and wary of
interveningin anotherI\'luslinrstate.the U.S. has ruled out sendingtroopsto Africa's largestcountry,throwing its
supporl insteadbehind a proposalto deploy severalthousandAfrican observers.not to halt the violencebut to
rnonitor it.
The rest of the lvorld. nteanwhile.seemsinclinedto do even less.Despitethe Sudanesegovernnrent'sunwillingness
to rein in the Janjaweed.the Bush Administrationhas so far failed to persuadethe [-i.N.SecurityCouncilto iltipose
sanctionson Khartoum.After l8 nrontlrsof atrocitiesin Sudan.the internationalcotnnrultityhasyet to take a single
punitive action againstthe Sudanesegovernment.Oppositionto sanctionshas come from Arab countriesthat are
sytnpatheticto Khartounrand fronr SecurityCouncil members,suchas Pakistanand China. that are heavily invested
in Sudatt'semergingoil industry.That has forcedthe tJ.S.to scaleback a resolutionthat r.vouldpunish Khartourr
should it fail to halt the killing. The new resolution-passedon Sept. l8 by a vote of I I to 0. with China, Russia.
Pakistan,and Algeria abstaining-commitsthe SecurityCouncil to do little more than think about penalties:if the
Sudanesegovernnlentdoesnot act to stop the violence,the council will nreetagainto "consider"imposing
sanctions.
Global paralysisin the face of large-scale
e t h n i cc l e a n s i n gi n A f r i c a i s n o t h i n gn e r v .l t ' s
horv the U.S. and the U.N. respondedto the
Rwandangenocidea decadeago, in which
800.000peopledied. Advocacy groupslike
the lnternationalCrisis Group are urging
action "if Darfur 2004 is not to join Rwanda
1994 as shofthandfor internationalshame:'
Ten years later,"Never Again" is proving a
hard promiseto keep.
The killing fields of westernSudanstretch
acrossan area almost as big as Texas. The
.laniaweedroam the windsweptplainsand
parts of the central range of.jagged,extinct
volcanoeson canrelsand horsesor in pickup
trucks mountedwith machineguns.Bandsof
l0 or l2 nren swoop into a village. shootthe men and boys. rapethe women, loot and burn huts and nrosques.rip up
crops.and slaughteror steallivestock.Halirna.30. was working in her farnily'sfield in the village of Gadarrawhen
she heard "the voice of guns" last July. "The attackerswere on tbot and running and shooting.They warrtedto kill
us:' she says.Scoopingup her daughterAmna. 2. she fled. "They chasedus, and we had to hide and walk at night;'
says l-lalinta,who declinesto give her full name fbr fear of reprisals."We had nothingto eat:'
Halinraand her daughtertook threeweeksto reachthe Abu Shouk carnpoutsideal-Fashir.the capitalof northern
Darfur. By then, Amna's weight..just7.25 kg. was more appropriatefor achild lessthan half her age.Overthe past
two months,staff nrembersfi'om Frenchaid group Action Against Hunger.which feedsup to 100 rnalnourished
c h i l d r e na d a y i n t h e c a m p ,h a v es l o w l y n u r s e dh e r b a c kt o h e a l t h ." l w i l l n e v e rr e t u r nu n l e s st h e r ei s p e a c e : ' s a y s
Halirna.r,vhowears a bright purple and blue veil wrappedaroundher head."We usedto have peace.but now we
have only war."
Survivors"aid workers,the U.S. governmentand human-rights activistssay the Janjaweedoften work closely with
Sudan'sregularsecurityforces.attackingalongsidegovernmenttroops in military vehiclesor relying on air suppoft
in the form of bombersor helicoptergunships."We were at morning prayerswhen the bombing began;'says Kalturn
Ali Ahmed, 47, whose village was attackedlast March and who along with her daughterand granddaughtersought
refu-qein the larger town of Tawila. "Then the Janjaweedarrived and tore off our clothes and our jewelry. Anyone
who refusedwas punishedor killed. They took somegirls and only let them go afterthree days. I do not want to say
what they did to them. It is sharneful."
Near the Chad border last month. Janjaweedand governmenttroops razednine villages.accordingto survivors
interviewedby the Coalition for International.lustice,a Washington-based
group that studieswar crinresand rvhose
researchthe State Departtrrenthas used for its genocideassertion.Survivors say that _qovernntent
helicopters
targetedcivilians insidethe villageswhile Janjaweedroundedup cattle.Khaftoum works "hand in glove" with the
militias, says StephanieFrease,specialprojectmanagerwith the coalition.'At this point. all the governmenthas to
do is fly an airplaneto instill terror,to get peopleto rnove:'
The U.N. says only half of all Darfurians have sufficient food and health care and, only 40oh have adequate
sanitation.Malnutrition ratesin Darfur are always high. but becausecrops have not beenplantedthis season,people
nlust now rely on aid groupsto feed them for at leasta year. But the biggestconcernsare the continuingviolence
newat- tacks."[The
effbrtsto forcepeopleto returnto theirvillages,wheretheymayf-ace
andthegovernmetrt's
Ahnred."And theywantto actasif nothinghaschattged:'
violence]is still insidenre;'says
6 millionpeoplearefarmersandherders.
The conflictin Darfuris literallyrootedin thesoil.Mostof theregion's
graziers,
who nrigrate
between
thearidrtofihand
who clingto thevalleyswherethe soil is lesssandy,or-nomadic
the south.which bloomsgreenafterthe rainseveryAugust.Thoughnrostof Darfur'sfarntersareAfricanand its
haveblurredthe rnostobvious
of intermarriage
Arab,thetwo sroupshavemixedeasily.Centuries
nonrads
thetwo aretraditionally
between
areblack.MuslinrandspeakArabic.Disputes
nearlyall Darfurians
distinctions:
Darfur'splains.
of cattleroutesandriversthatcrisscross
settledusinghiballawsasconrplexasthespiderweb
Over the pasttwo decades.though,persistentdrought
has forced the Arabs to move to more arablelands.
s t r a i n i n gr e l a t i o n sw i t h t h e A f i ' i c a n s I. n t h e l a t e 1 9 8 0 s .
competitionfor turf beganto turn violent. Light arnrs
poured into the regiorrlrom neighboringChad and the
DernocraticRepublicof Congo. leadingto occasional
massacres.Hostilitiessimmeredfor more than a decade.
But the spark for war came in April lastyear, when,
following two rnonthsof occasionalraids on villages,
African rebelsfrom a group calling itself the Sudan
LiberationArmy (SLA) swept into the tumbledown
airporl in the town of al-Fashir.killed 75 Sudanese
governmentsoldiers.shot up four military aircraftand
kidnappedthe air force chief. Ma-iorGeneralIbrahim
Bushra.The rebel group claimedthat the raid was a protestagainstboth the government'sneglectof Darfur and an
increasingArab militancy. In response.SudanesePresidentOmar al-Bashircalledon local tribesto crush the
rebellion.The nrosteagerrecruitscame from small groupsof Arab nonradswlro saw an oppotlunityto grab land and
military operation.Locals dubbedthe fightersJanjaweed.a nante
livestock undertlre bannerof a state-sanctioned
that loosely means"devils on horseback"and has long beenusedto describethe regiort'sbandits.By August 2003
the Janiaweedhad begunattackingnot only the SLA fightersbut also Darfuriancivilians,rvho it said were aiding
observers.with the
the insurgency.The conflict quickly descendedinto ethnic cleansing,say hurrtan-rights
Janjaweedattacking and driving out people on the basisof ethnicity. Darfur's largestArab tribes refusedto take part
in the fighting, and rrranyAfricans did not supportthe rebels.But the battle lines had been drawn: Arab against
African. "l think the Sudanesegovemmentthoughtthey could sort out the problerr quickly:' saysCynthia Gaigals,
advocacycoordinatorfor Sudan."But it soon becatnesomethingnruch bigger:'
Care International's
The Sudanesegovernmentsays it has armed some 10,000local tribesmerlas part of the pararnilitaryPopular
DefenseForce but that thesetroops,who includeArabs and Africans.have not parlicipatedin any massacres.
Khartoum saysthe chargeof genocideis LJ.S.hype in an electiorryear and accusesthe rebels.wlto control
nrcluntainous
centralDarfur. of cornmittingraids and kidnappingsof their own. Aid agenciesagreethat the rebels
are guilty of attacks.including,last week. the first outsideDarfur. Khartoum saysthe rebelsare funded by lJassan
al- Thrabi. who supportedthe 1989coupthat installedal-Bashiras Presidentbut has sincefallen out with the
governtnent.The war in Darfur, say governnrentinsidersand opposition figures, is a proxy battle for power in
Khartoum. "This is a war that the rebelswant to fight insidevillages;'saysEl Tijani Fedail,Sudan'sMinister of
Statefor ForeignAffairs. "ln very rare situationswe rnay bomb and kill civilians.lf the Americansdo it, they call it
collateraldamage.don't they?"
For more than a year, as the violence in Darfur has escalated,the world has stood by. Since the start of the Bush
Adrninistration.U.S. policy toward Sudanhas beenfocusedon endingthe country'slong-runningwar in the south.
which has killed more than 2 million people.Proddedto take actionby an unlikely allianceof the religiouslight and
the CongressionalBlack Caucus,Bush appointedfornrerMissouri SenatorJohn Danforth as a specialpeaceenvoy
1o Sudanand pressuredKhartounrand the southernrebelsto put down their weapons.But just as a peacedeal looked
imminent. Darfur exploded.Ratherthan risk a collapseof the deal in the south,the Adrninistration- and rnuchof the
internationalcomnrunity- choseto avoid the issue."They didn't want to know about Darfur;' chargesGhazi
SalahuddinAtabani,a friend and adviserto Presidental-Bashirand then Khartoum'slead negotiatorin the talks.
"'They kept saying,'Pleaseget rid of this problern:"
Congressionalleadersand some mernbersof the Administrationhavetried recentlyto make up for lost time by
within the
denouncingthe killing in Darfur. DespitePowell'sstatement,however,thereare disagreements
Administrationand betweenthe Ll.S.and its alliesover whetherthe violenceagainstDarfur'sAfricans amountsto
genocide- and about what to do to stop it. In August a missionfrom the EuropeanUnion to Sudanconcludedthat
the killings fell shofi of genocide.which is definedby the conventionas adeliberateattemptto kill or seriouslyhurt
to Sudan.
a group of people"to bring about its physicaldestructionin whole or in part:'The U.N.'s representative
Jan Pronk"has also stoppedshort of calling it genocide."Atrocities.very bad things,killings. rape"burning of
in Khartounrlast week. Sontehurnan-rightsadvocatesare
villages have taken place.'"Prorrktold apress conf-erence
the conflict as genocide,the significanceof
concernedthat is the LJ.S.fails to interveneafter Powell characterized
the conventionwill be undermined.That and Sudan'sclampdownon aid provisionin retaliationfor the declaration
could make it a major diplornaticrnistakeon Por,vell'spart,the advocatesfear. "lf that's the case,then rve corneout
of this with the worst of all worlds," saysa U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopmentofficial. "We put the aid at
risk. and you undenninethe convention."
What can be done to saveDarfur? SusanRice, AssistantSecretaryof Statefor Africa during the Clinton yearsand
arradviserto John Kerry, criticizesthe Bush Administrationfor not "taking action consonantwith the rnagnitudeof
"l don't think there'sa huge difference"betweenKerry and
At the sanretime, Rice acknowledges"
the catastrophe;'
Bush on how to handleSudan.Neither candidateadvocatessendingU.S. troopsto Africa to end the fighting. The
Adrninistration'scurrentstrategyis to "calibrate"the pressureon Sudan'sgovernrrent.until it fully disarnrsthe
Janjaweed.But human-rightsobserverswho have visited the regionsay that unlessthe world nrovesrapidly to
irnposeecononricand rnilitary sanctionsagainstSudan.tensof thousandsnrorecould die in a nratterof tnonths,
either at the hands of the Janjaweedor fronr starvationand disease.Sudan has agreedto allow the African Union to
increasethe nurnberof its soldiersand observersin Darfur from 300 to 2000. But the soldiers'mandatestopsthenr
from interveningin the violence.and it would require50 tirnesas many troopsto keepthe peacein an areaso big.
For Darfurians like Melkha Musa Haroun, the horrors they have witnessedwill never fade. After an attack last year
she fled with her four children and spenteight monthshiding from the Janjaweed,walking frorn village to village
until she found refuge in a camp. Now, one year later, she recalls watching Janjaweedfighters on a rampage
deciding whonr to kill. A fighter unwrappedswaddlingcloth and rolled a newbornbaby onto the din. The baby
w a s a g i r l , s o t h e y l e f t h e r .T h e n t h e J a n i a w e e d s p o t t e d a l - y e a r - o l d b o y a n d d e c i d e d h e w a s a f u t u r e el nn e n r y .
front of the group of onlookers.a man tossedthe boy into the air as anotltertook airn and shot him dead. "lt was the
worse thing I ever saw." Harounsayssoftly, castingher eyesdownwardas she hugs her baby tightly to her breast.