WASHINGTON (ABP) — In the Bush administration's most powerful statement to date on the situation in the troubled Sudanese province of Darfur, Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Senate committee Sept. 9 that black Africans are being subjected to “genocide” in the region — and that the Arab-controlled government in Khartoum shares responsibility.
Citing a State Department report on the situation released the same day, Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee “genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the government of Sudan” and Arab militias in the region the government has supported “bear responsibility.”
“And genocide may still be occurring,” he added.
The crisis began in early 2003, when some black African militias in Darfur attacked Sudan's Arab-controlled government to protest long-standing inequities between black Sudanese and the Arab power structure.
The government responded by arming Arab militias, collectively known by the Arabic name “Janjaweed.” The groups have, according to a variety of human-rights and governmental organizations, terrorized black Darfur residents by carrying out a systematic campaign of murder, rape, destruction of crops, and forced displacement of whole villages.
As a result, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development, nearly a million black Sudanese are at risk of death from starvation and disease due to tight quarters in refugee camps and the militias' blocking of relief shipments of food and medicine. According to various estimates, between 30,000 and 100,000 people have already died as a result of the conflict.
Hundreds of thousands more, according to the United Nations, have been driven from their homes to other parts of Darfur and into neighboring countries. Many of those are housed in refugee camps with deplorable sanitary conditions, and hundreds daily are succumbing to hunger and disease.
“Some of [the victims alive today] have already been consigned to death in the future because of the circumstances they are living in now,” Powell told the heavily attended hearing. “They will not make it through the end of the year.”
Despite a cease-fire between the rebels and the Sudanese government negotiated last spring, the report indicates, the Janjaweed's attacks — and the government's complicity in them — have continued.
The new State Department report is based on interviews U.S. government officials conducted with 1,136 Darfuri refugees in camps in neighboring Chad. Of the respondents, 81 percent said they had witnessed destruction of their home villages by the Janjaweed, and 61 percent said they had experienced the murder of a family member.
Powell said the “genocide” term was justified because the report found a “consistent and widespread” pattern of atrocities against black villagers across Darfur at the hands of the Janjaweed and their government backers.
Powell himself also visited the region in June. In addition, several high-ranking officials — including several members of Congress and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan — have visited Darfur and spoken with Sudanese and other local government authorities.
However, using diplomacy to bring about an end to the crisis has proven difficult. As the committee's chairman, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), said in his opening statement, “Khartoum's status as an oil exporter, a major arms importer, and an Islamic government has diminished the appetite for decisive action [against Sudan] in some foreign capitals.”
In July, Congress passed a resolution urging administration officials to label the situation as genocide. On July 30, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1556, which set a deadline by the end of August for the Sudanese government to begin bringing Janjaweed leaders to justice and to end attacks against civilians. Powell said that “it appears” officials in Khartoum had failed to comply with that request.
In response, Powell said, the United States has proposed another resolution to the Security Council. Debate on it was scheduled to begin Sept. 9. It threatens sanctions against Sudan's oil industry if government officials do not work to improve conditions for black Darfuris.
The proposal will likely prove controversial on the council, which includes two members — China and Pakistan — with close ties to Sudan's oil industry. Many world leaders have criticized the aggressive U.S. approach to the situation as risky, saying it could endanger the nation's political stability and possibly cause even more hard-line officials to come into power.
-30-