The first genocide of the twenty-first century has been going on for more than four years in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The government of Sudan has sent its troops and hired militias known as the Janjaweed ("devils on horseback") to systematically destroy the livelihoods of Darfurians by bombing and burning villages, looting any economic resources, and murdering, raping, and torturing innocent civilians. Though government obstruction has prevented the international community from finding concrete statistics on mortality, we know that hundreds of thousands have died and millions have been displaced as a result of the conflict. In just the first few months of 2007, over 140,000 more Darfurians have been displaced, according to the United Nations Mission in Sudan.

As a result of the massive displacement and violence, refugees have fled en masse to the neighboring countries of Chad and the Central African Republic, where they face additional sources of violence. The violence has not only been targeting Darfurians but also the humanitarian convoys that have been working tirelessly to try to deliver aid.

As global citizens we have a responsibility to protect the civilians in Darfur that have been suffering for far too long. On July 31, 2007, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1769 to authorize the deployment of the 26,000-strong United Nations-African Union hybrid force with a Chapter VII mandate that authorizes the use of force. This has been supported by a number of countries around the world including addition to the United States, who unanimously passed Senate Resolution 276, which called for the swift deployment of the hybrid force and for efforts to renew the peace process.

Read more about the history of Darfur.

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