Fall 2009 » Research Briefs » Eyewitness Report from Refugee Camps

March, 2009

In July 2004, while many listened in horror to stories about violence in Sudan, Samuel Totten, an education professor who specializes in genocide studies, joined the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project. He spent two weeks in Goz Beida, Chad, a desert village on a dusty plain encircled by mountains and site of a camp for 13,500 refugees from Darfur, Sudan.

Totten and a co-investigator interviewed 98 randomly selected refugees. They spoke to a variety of people, young and old, men and women, many of whom had been beaten, raped or shot or had seen members of their family brutalized or slain.

He was struck by the systematic nature of the killing. Routinely, planes and bombs terrorized villagers from the air, while Sudanese military troops and Arab militias and Janjaweed attacked on the ground. He personally gathered information about five villages in a row being attacked on the same day in the same way.

Totten heard of numerous rapes by both Sudanese soldiers and Arab militia, something that recent tribunals have recognized as an act of genocide.

"Such brutality against young girls and women yet again underscores the critical need for the international community to act sooner rather than later to assist populations under attack," Totten said. "Far too often girls and women bear the brunt of vicious attacks that violate their very selfhood."

Totten identified some key findings that likely helped lead the U.S. State Department to declare that genocide had been perpetrated in Sudan. Black Africans were specifically targeted in each village, racial epithets were often used and mass rape was common. The attacks were systematic and coordinated by the Sudanese government, Arab militias and Janjaweed. Hundreds, and probably thousands, of villages were destroyed, and there was displacement of over a million individuals.

Totten emphasized the continuing need for international protection for villagers and refugees in Sudan and Chad: "It does no one any good to have a situation deemed genocide if nothing is done to stanch the killing. Each day that goes by, more and more innocent people are killed, maimed and left to starve to death or to live a life of abject misery."

In January 2005, following an investigation in Darfur, the UN concluded that genocide may not have been perpetrated, "although there may have been genocidal intent."

Totten said, "This decision, through and through, constitutes a classic case of realpolitik. The UN kowtowed to China, which has oil interests in Sudan, and to Russia, which has sold weapons to Sudan. So much for international concern about addressing genocide in an effective and just manner."

Totten, who has volunteered to take part in future investigations, is writing about his experiences for genocide studies journals and for publications aimed at policymakers. He is also collaborating on a book with Eric Markusen, a researcher from
the Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and with another investigator with the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project.