Now entering its fifth year, the Darfur crisis continues to be one of the world’s largest concentrations of human suffering. The conflict began in 2003, when rebel groups (Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)) began attacking government targets, saying the region was being neglected by the government in Khartoum. The sheer enormity of the crisis is unimaginable. Over 200,000 people have been killed by government-supported Janjaweed militia and 2.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes and are currently living in crowded refugee camps for internally displaced people in both Darfur and across the border in Chad. More than 4.5 million people are now affected by the conflict and depend on humanitarian assistance.

The Khartoum government admits to mobilizing self-defense militias following the rebel attacks but denies any links to the Janjaweed, who are accused of trying to “cleanse” Black Africans from the region. Refugees from Darfur say that following air raids by government aircraft, the Janjaweed ride into villages on horses and camels, slaughtering men, raping women and stealing whatever they can find.

The African Union (AU) has sent in 7,000 soldiers to try to monitor the ceasefire accord of 2006, signed by both the SLA and JEM, but has been rather unsuccessful in the vast region roughly the size of Texas. Most recently the AU soldiers have become targets and victims of the Janjaweed militia. In November, 2006, the AU Peace and Security Council, supported by the United Nations (UN), endorsed a three phase plan that would include the establishment of a hybrid UN-AU operation. In June, 2007, after months of resistance, the Khartoum government agreed on the deployment of an AU-UN hybrid force in the Darfur region.

Although a security force is being deployed in the region, the ability of humanitarian aid organizations to access those in need of assistance is at an all-time low. The ability of humanitarian aid agencies to reach those in need was at its lowest point in December 2006 since April 2004, with UN access to the affected populations down to 64%. In addition, disease and violence remain a daily fact of life for the millions who have been displaced since the beginning of the conflict in 2003. Today, most are entirely reliant on the dwindling external humanitarian aid, and the threat of full-scale war is once again looming. The time to act is now.