AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
ISSUE BRIEF

February 2006

Amnesty International is alarmed by escalating violence in the Darfur region of western Sudan between the Sudanese army, government-backed militias and armed opposition groups. Despite the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of January 2005, ostensibly ending the 20-year Sudanese civil war in southern Sudan, peace talks between the Government of Sudan (GOS) and armed opposition groups in Darfur have yet to yield significant results.

In February 2003, an opposition group called the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) emerged in Darfur and attacked government troops. The SLM/A declared their attacks were in protest of GOS failure to protect local villagers from attacks by nomadic groups, and the economic marginalization of the region. Another armed opposition group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), later emerged, with demands basically the same as those of the SLM/A. After initial indications that the GOS was seeking a peaceful solution, it chose instead to resolve the conflict by force, beginning in March 2003. Since that time the fighting has continued.

At least 200,000 civilians have been killed by both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks, and over 2.5 million civilians have been displaced (including some 200,000 refugees in Chad). Civilians have become victims of numerous human rights violations, primarily at the hands of pro-government militias, and also the government itself, because of indiscriminate bombing and other aerial attacks, and its failure to hold militias and its own soldiers accountable. Most notably members of the Janjawid (translated, "guns on horses") have been responsible for killings, torture, detentions, the torching of homes and villages, and the theft and deliberate destruction of crops and cattle. Both the SLM/A and JEM, as well as other armed opposition groups, have also perpetrated killings, looting, and abductions.

In July 2004 the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) began with a few hundred observers; it has since been increased to a force of 7,000, still insufficient to protect the civilian population of Darfur. In November 2004 the Government of Sudan, the SLM/A and JEM signed two accords in Abuja, Nigeria; these were aimed at easing the delivery of humanitarian aid and improving security in Darfur. Despite these agreements civilians are still subjected daily to gross human rights violations and other injustices committed throughout Darfur. This humanitarian crisis is exacerbated by the remoteness of the areas in Sudan and Chad (where refugees have taken shelter); restrictions on humanitarian assistance, press and international investigators imposed by the government; and ongoing raids by Janjawid, Darfuri opposition groups, and armed Chadian groups along Darfur's border with Chad. Since late 2005 armed opposition groups have increased armed attacks, and Janjawid forces have continued their harassment of civilians, resulting in further mass displacement.

The crisis in Darfur must be addressed swiftly and forcefully by the international community, and the government of Sudan must protect the human rights of all its citizens, ensuring that government forces and all militias cease to commit human rights violations. Leaders of armed opposition groups must also ensure that all those within their movements respect human rights and international humanitarian law.

Amnesty International USA recommendations:

• The U.S. government and the international community should provide all necessary funding to maintain AMIS in the near term, and should actively seek authorization and support for an international peacekeeping mission with mandate and funding sufficient to protect all civilians in Darfur until violent conflict has ended.
• The U.S. government should request that AMIS make its records of human rights violations and violations of humanitarian law public on a regular monthly basis.
• The U.S. government should press the Sudanese government and all parties to the conflict to allow unhindered access to and ensure the safety of all humanitarian workers in accordance with international humanitarian law.
• The U.S. government should publicly condemn all instances of violations of human rights and humanitarian law, and should encourage all parties in the Darfur conflict to end all violations of human rights and humanitarian law.

Contact: Lynn Fredriksson, Advocacy Director for Africa, at (202) 544-0200 or visit our website.

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