The emergency in Sudan's western region of Darfur presents the
starkest challenge to the world since the Rwandan genocide in
1994. A government-backed Arab militia known as Janjaweed has
been engaging in campaigns to displace and wipe out communities
of African tribal farmers. Villages have been razed, women and
girls raped and branded, men and boys murdered, and food and
water supplies targeted and destroyed. Government aerial
bombardments support the Janjaweed by hurling explosives as well
as barrels of nails, car chassis and old appliances from planes
to crush people and property. Since 2003, at least four hundred
thousand people have been killed. More than two million people
were forced to flee their homes. They are now living in
displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in
neighboring Chad. And, more than 3.5 million people are
completely reliant on international aid for survival. In-
fighting among the various rebel groups, including the Sudanese
Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equal