Ruth Messinger said Americans cannot ignore the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, but rather they have an obligation to help those affected by it.

Messinger, president of the American Jewish World Service, described her experiences in Darfur and Chad Tuesday in a speech titled "Darfur: A Genocide We Can Stop" at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Messinger said the situation in Darfur is not even close to becoming hopeful.

While in Chad, home to 300,000 displaced Darfurians, she visited hospitals and feeding tents of malnourished and sick children.

"Many of them will not survive," she said.

Messinger said many of the refugees described the same events happening to force them out of their villages. She said they said things like, "First the planes came in and bombed it, then the militia rode in.

"They tell you they can't imagine going back," Messinger said.

The conflict in Sudan began in 2003 when non-Arab rebel groups took up arms to fight oppression of the Sudanese government.

According to a 2004 Physicians for Human Rights press release, government forces and militia joined to stop the rebellion. The ethnic Arab militias, called Janjaweed, have been the culprit of immediate violence, forced migration and starvation, which are now indicators of genocide.

According to SaveDarfur.org, 400,000 men, women and children have died while 2.5 million people have been displaced from their home -- 200,000 of whom have fled to Chad.

Janjaweed means "armed men on horseback," Messinger said. "They rape and brand women, they kill women, they kill livestock."

She said the militias convince survivors to flee. However, there is not enough money to feed displaced citizens, and any food given to them has to be cooked, which requires firewood.

Genocide in Darfur



o In the Darfur region of western Sudan, Janjaweed militias, backed by the government and recruited from local Arab tribes, have been attacking non-Arabs in the region.



o The government utilizes the militias to suppress political insurgents, but non-Arabs are also targeted due to their minority. There is also economic conflict, as some of the attacks arise over competition for land and water.

Messinger said her organization has put pressure on the White House to do something, but the issue remains unattended.

"When genocide is in the world, none of us can sit idly by," she said. "The issue cannot be dismissed as someone else's problem. There is now a genocide, and this is an issue that your children and grandchildren will ask you about."

Mike Korenblit, president of the Respect Diversity Foundation, said he has been talking about Darfur since it began. Korenblit's parents were Holocaust survivors. He now lectures students concerning situations like those in Sudan.

"What is happening is what it looks like," he said. "We're committing genocide there."

Korenblit said the Sudanese government, along with the Janjaweed, are trying to wipe out the non-Arab citizens, physically and mentally.

He said one tactic they use to do this is rape.

"One of the reasons they are doing that is that the black babies, when they come out, will be lighter-skinned," He said.

Korenblit said another strategy they use is to kill primarily men and boys, which will hinder reproduction.

"That's a way of performing genocide," he said. "The world said 'never again' after World War II, but every president since has had a genocide on his watch."
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