Today, eight years after the genocide escalated, violent attacks in Darfur continue. Villages are still regularly burned and the systematic targeting of indigenous African tribes who are singled out for elimination are still ongoing. Women are raped and are living in fear of violence and rape everyday. Forced occupation of the black African lands by the Arabs allied with Khartoum government is still taking place today.

Myself and many others were forced to abandon our families, friends and our beloved homeland, but we are lucky to survive the brutal genocide of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his allied Janjaweed militias. We traveled across continents through the journey of hopes, fears and frustration and finally came to the United States.

On July 23, 2004, the United State Congress declared the atrocities in Darfur as genocide. The recognition of the genocidal crimes by the US government at the time was big news for all of the victims, survivors and the advocates.  It gave us the hope and motivated us to speak up hoping that sooner our people will be protected and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

We are joined by persons of conscience from all walks of life including students, religious leaders, and human rights advocates from all over the world to call for protection, peace and justice for the vulnerable. Millions of Darfuris such as myself have been crying for many years and demanded the simple right of our people to be protected and to live with dignity. Sadly, we have only been given a handful of promises from the international community and the situation is worsening everyday due to the ruthless regime of al-Bashir.

We were very appreciative that seven years ago, international aid agencies came to Darfur to save lives. The African Union troops were authorized and sent in to protect the people of Darfur, but failed.  5 years ago, UN troops were authorized to join the AU to protect the vulnerable and the resolution for disarmament of the Janjaweed was issued. Unfortunately, it has never been implemented and the Janjaweed continue to kill, rape, torture and terrorize civilians. In 2005, the UN Security Council unanimously referred the case of Darfur to the ICC but only after they exhausted all other options for bringing peace to Darfur. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has then done his best in investigating the crimes committed and later, the court issued two arrest warrants for al-Basher with 10 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, the Security Council leaders haven’t come forth to enforce the court’s decision. The arrest warrants are left pending and world leaders are still divided between seeking justice for genocide victims and granting impunity for this brutal dictator. As a result, al-Bashir has been emboldened and allowed to defy and deny human rights because of the inaction of the international community.

The question remains, “did impunity for al-Bashir receive a silent vote from world leaders who had the power to enforce the arrest warrant OR has the need to attain justice for victims not yet gained attention among world leaders?”

Eight years is too long for the Darfuri people who have been forced out of their homes, oppressed, starved, dehumanized, while their fate is left to be decided by their murderer, al-Bashir. It’s been too long for the more than 250,000 refugees in Chad who have been constantly harassed, raped, abducted and sometimes handed over to al-Bashir’s forces by the Chadian government. It’s been too long for the hundreds in the Central African Republic who have left without protection, relief or a dignified life.  Indeed, it’s been far too long for the immeasurable number of women who have endured rape nearly everyday and for their children who do not have enough food or shelter. They now live in a state of severe malnutrition and are left to die everyday without ever being counted.

Although the unspeakable tragedy in Darfur has recently been downplayed, Darfuri women named their camps and their children after President Obama when he was elected.  Many schools have been named Obama’s own schools, out of their optimism from a statement in which he said, “the genocide in Darfur is a stain on our souls,” words that made both the victims and the advocates hopeful.

In a statement made by the former US envoy to Sudan, he stated, “the situation in Darfur is not a genocide, it is a remnants of genocide.” Following that statement, the outgoing UN commander Randolph Adada confidently made another reinforcing statement in saying, “the war in Darfur is over” while the janjaweed were still with working in full capacity.  This confused the international community and made them doubt whether or not the genocide was still taking place.  While the International Criminal Court has found evidence and issued an arrest warrant against Al-bashir, the damage was already done and diffusion of the cause took place.

In less than a month, the Government of Sudan found the audacity to use new genocidal tactics.  They forced the most effective aid organizations out of Darfur causing Darfuris die of starvation and diseases.  Even though they were not attacked, this damage is nearly impossible to repair. Later eastern Jebel Marra was attacked by government forces.  As a result, more than 100,000 civilians have been displaced and over 150 people were killed.  The UN did not dare go in to verify or investigate the incidence and the entire international community did not know how to respond because they were told that the genocide does not exist and the war was over.

From 2010 to 2011, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been driven from their homes multiple times since the beginning of the crises and the world is watching.  UNAMID has been constantly obstructed and the remaining aid workers have been repeatedly attacked and forced to leave one by one.  The regime has further used every possible means to oppress its victims and have moved toward occupying Abyei and wiping out the Nuba mountains, knowing that the world will not likely impose serious measures against their ruling power.  To me, these have revealed that the Responsibility to Protect will remain a rhetorical notion unless it is used as a blanket measure that can be applied against those who are killing their own people, namely al-Basher of Sudan.

The world has chosen the easy path by allowing impunity for al-Basher and has damaged accountability for genocidal crimes.  That is why we are here today entering a twenty-four hour hunger strike to tell the international community led by the United States that we will never give up fighting for justice.  We the victims and survivors, with our friends and allies from all over the world have faith in equal rights for all and respect for human dignity!  We will continue to remind them that the promise of never again can be brought about by ordinary citizens if we are determined and work hard to realize it. We will never give up advocating for the rights of the vulnerable, for protection, justice and lasting peace!  If the world has abandoned the people of Darfur, we will not.  The Darfuri diaspora from the United states, Canada, Europe, Africa and all the American activists have come together to fight genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, Nuba Mountains, Abyei and elsewhere.  We will never give up until the responsibility to protect becomes morally driven, not politically driven.  This will be a wake up call to the Obama administration and the entire world community that what will do all that it takes to save lives and restore the dignity of the people of Sudan.  We will continue.