The government continues its military operations directly and through its proxy militias. Those who have visited the camps in Darfur and Chad, including some from the Save Darfur Coalition, have reported on the dire conditions their inhabitants endure. It is remarkable they have survived for this long, in the face of such overwhelming hardship, and with so little progress toward resolving the underlying cause of their dislocation and insecurity. Only the herculean efforts of the U.N. and nongovernmental humanitarian relief agencies have made this possible. About 13,000 aid workers in approximately 100 refugee camps in Darfur and Chad work under very difficult security and logistical conditions and are constantly harassed by Sudanese government obstruction and red tape.

Humanitarian workers and operations are increasingly being targeted by both government and fragmenting rebel movement elements. Vehicles are being hijacked and robbed, aid workers are assaulted and intimidated while carrying out their work and offices are broken into and looted.

In 2007 alone, according to the U.N., over 240,000 additional people have been displaced as they continue to flee the ongoing violence. Both the U.N. and non-governmental humanitarian agencies have warned that their ability to sustain operations is at risk in the face of government harassment and worsening security problems. Any interruption in the flow of humanitarian aid could spark deaths on a scale even worse than that seen to date: U.N. officials say that the death rate in Darfur could rise as high as 100,000 people per month if the fragile humanitarian life-support system collapses.4

The human suffering in Darfur continues despite the fact that the United States Congress, President Bush, and two U.S. Secretaries of State, have all labeled the conflict in Darfur genocide – the first time in U.S. history that a conflict has been labeled as such while it was ongoing.

On April 18, 2007, President Bush stated that he was tired of Sudan’s obfuscation and evasion as it pursued its genocide; he demanded prompt action by President al-Bashir to end the genocide and cooperate with international demands that he admit U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur and cease obstructing humanitarian aid. President Bush warned that the U.S. would impose unilateral, targeted economic sanctions on the Sudanese regime5 and work for the same globally in the U.N. Security Council. On May 29, 2007, President Bush announced the implementation of said sanctions against Sudan.6

While the U.S. is a major funder for both A.U. peacekeeping and humanitarian aid efforts in Darfur, the actual costs related to Darfur have often outpaced U.S. budget projections due to the changing nature and scope of the crisis, creating dangerous gaps in funding and the need for frequent emergency measures to address the shortfalls. Within the President’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08), there is a projected $186 million shortfall for Darfur peacekeeping, and a $6 billion shortfall for America’s core humanitarian assistance. If these gaps are not addressed, the impact on international peacekeeping and aid efforts could negatively affect millions of Darfuris. Congress took initial steps to fill these gaps, but it is certain that more money will be required in the upcoming FY08 supplemental funding bill to fully rectify this shortfall.

Over the last few years, a number of states and universities divested their financial holdings from companies doing harmful business with the Sudanese regime.  Unfortunately, there is an effort underway to overturn some of these state divestment laws.  Congress is considering a resolution, H.R. 180, that would safeguard states’ rights to divest.  H.R. 180 would also bar U.S. contracts with these same companies, ensuring that federal tax dollars do not end up in Khartoum.  H.R. 180 passed the House by an overwhelming vote of 418 to 1 on July 31, 2007, and now awaits action in the Senate.

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