Sudan has been embroiled in one civil war after another since it’s inception as an independent nation in 1955 with the past three decades being among the worst for the civilian population casualties, with famine, rape and murder of innocent civilians running rampant. In the eighties the Sudanese government changed tactics and started attacking civilians, bombing village after village; as well as, humanitarian aid outposts, using terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and various Islamic groups to terrorize and demoralize civilians and aid workers alike with a sort of scorched earth tactic.

Since 1983 over 2 million people have died due to civil war in Sudan with the number building by the hundreds of thousands since the since the renewal of fighting in march of 2003, driven by greed for power and the suppression of all who would appose the Islamic held government. Those that were unlucky enough to live despite the odd were raped brutalized and tortured under the supervision of Janjaweed commanders.

In March of 2003 renewed fighting broke out in the Darfur region of western Sudan between Government forces including Janjaweed militia forces and rebel groups which include: The Sudan liberation Army (SLA), The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masaalit. Rebel forces are responsible for some attacks against civilians, but overwhelmingly the Sudanese government and Janjaweed have perpetrated the violence. Burning villages to the ground both from the air and from the ground, Janjaweed the proxy ethnic militia and Sudanese government forces have systematically killed over 400,000 innocent men, women, and children, killing mostly civilians from the from the same ethnic background as rebel forces. Those that didn’t die from direct violence died of starvation, lack of medical care or exposure to the desert elements prevalent in the region.

Beginning in April of that year refugees began to pour into neighboring Chad to escape the atrocities playing out in there own country. By September the number of refugees encamped in Chad had reached an estimated 65,000 with another 500,000 in dire need of humanitarian aid in the Darfur region at that time. At this juncture the SLA and the Sudanese government reached a cease fire agreement that soon failed with both side blaming the other for breaking the agreement. Even as the UN set plans into motion to bring much needed aid to the refugees, leaving the UN with the difficult task of getting aid in to the people that needed, while contending with Janjaweed raiders who continually would ambush the UN convoys carrying food and medical supplies. In early December of that year, Chad begins a policy of restricting the number of refugees permitted to cross the boarder into the camps creating even more problems for aid workers bringing humanitarian aid nearly to a stand still.

In January of 2004 the UN and Humanitarian aid organizations such as The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) step up their efforts in Chad moving refugees away from the boarder to safer camps, and putting more aid and money into the area, increasing medical and food programs for the refugees. However; they were still having problems with roving Janjaweed raiding their convoys and stealing food and other supplies intended for the refugees. As the year moved on the Sudanese government began making improvements on accessibility made to UN aid workers and other NGO workers providing humanitarian aid to refugees still in the Darfur and southern Sudan areas. By July of this year the Sudanese government agrees to resume talks with rebels and disarm the Janjaweed and remove all restrictions on humanitarian workers in a communiqué with the UN, but fails to live up to his pledge, even as the UN adopts several resolutions through the rest of the year. Very little is done to enforce these resolutions. Despite international calls for tougher action to be taken, and AU request for logistical support for a troop build up in the area, little to nothing is done.

In the mean time the refugees’ (now officially called IDP’s (internationally Displaced Peoples) plight seamed to have gotten even worse if that were possible, with more and more women and children being raped and everyone being tortured and or mutilated, those who weren’t murdered died of malnutrition and starvation. Those who managed to survive all of that were in what one aid worker called "prisons with out walls." Due to the high level of violence still be perpetrated by the Janjaweed and Sudanese government forces, as they picked up the pace of their scorched earth campaign.

Written by: Cory V. Clark