U.S. Must Do More to Stop Genocide in Sudan

Secretary of State Powell arrived in Khartoum yesterday to address the rapidly deteriorating crisis in the western region of Sudan. Calling the situation in Darfur "horrific," Secretary Powell warned the Sudanese government that U.N. Security Council action is imminent unless the government takes significant steps to disband the militias, stop the killing, and bring humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of Sudanese civilians.

• The United States and international community should officially call the killing in Darfur what it is – genocide. Secretary Powell acknowledged that time is running out in Sudan, but stopped short of calling the killing genocide. Officially designating the killing as genocide would trigger immediate intervention based on U.N. treaty obligations to prevent such killings.
• Without rapid international action led by the United States, nearly one million Sudanese will likely die in the next few months. Andrew Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, stated to Reuters: "If nothing changes we will have one million casualties. If things improve we can get it down to about 300,000 deaths." In a letter to the President Bush this week, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wrote that the crisis in the Darfur region "will not be resolved without sustained and effective leadership from the United States."
• The U.N. Security Council should impose multilateral sanctions and grant the authority now for members to intervene militarily if Khartoum continues to stall. The Bush administration and international community must do everything possible to force the Sudanese government to halt the killing; disarm the militia; allow unimpeded access for humanitarian workers and supplies; and undertake political negotiations aimed at ending the crisis.

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