WASHINGTON (AP) - Thousands of people joined celebrities and legislators at a rally Sunday urging the Bush administration and Congress to help end genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. more

STAR POWER:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Joined by senators from the left and right, Oscar-winning actor George Clooney used his star power on Thursday to focus attention on Sudan's Darfur region, where he said the first genocide of this century was taking place. more

ABUJA (AFP) - The Sudanese government said it was ready to sign a deal brokered by the African Union (AU) to bring speedy peace to the war-torn Darfur region despite reservations over some of its contents. more

Just in....U.N. Security Council has decided to "SLAP SANCTIONS" on 4 Sudanese who carried out killings, rapes, and other human rights abuses in Sudan.

here's the article:
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council voted Tuesday to slap sanctions on four men involved in the Darfur conflict, the first-ever such penalties imposed in the violence. more

The U.N. has decided to send peacekeepers to Darfur while Osama Bin Laden is urging 'mujahideen' to go to western Sudan and fight them.

What a pickle.

Currently, there are about 250 U.N. civilian staffers in Darfur.

Tomorrow, there's suppose to be a vote initiated by the United States in the U.N. Security Council that might get sanctions on Sudan, but with Russia and China opposing the measure, it probably won't happen.

Yes, many of us would think that the US only cares for Sudan because of its oil reserves, but if it's going to help millions of refugees enduring unimaginable hardships, then so be it. Since when does a nation state go into another country without looking at its own interests first?

photo: Darfur refugees,
courtesy of Reuters

Rallies to stop genocide in Darfur are going to be held in Toronto, Washington DC and San Francisco on April 30, 2006. There is some information available on the Save Darfur website.

Darfur. How could one word conjure up so many images of brutality and injustice? Of ethnic cleansing in the 21th century? For those who aren't up to date with the situation, Darfur is a region in western Sudan roughly the size of California. Sudanese Government and government backed Arab militia called "janjaweed" are "attacking villages, ransacking and torching homes, and killing and raping civilians," according to Human Rights Watch.
The UN believes 180 000 people have been killed in the conflict, either through murder or mass starvation. Over 1.8 million people have been displaced due to the conflict and many have fled to neighbouring Chad, where refugee camps have flowered in villages like Gouroukoun, where as many as 50 000 refugees are squatting in temporary shelters, according to BBC News.
Now, there's even cases of the Chadians conspiring with janjaweeds in order to kill and steal whatever they can from the refugees.
It's a bleak situation.
For more info, go to the Human Rights Watch page on Darfur, which will keep you up to date with the conflict. BBC News also has an online page devoted to the conflict.
photo courtesy of Human Rights Watch