For daily updates on Darfur see the web log passionofthepresent.com (since April 2004), Sudan Emancipation & Preservation Network sepnet.org Also see two new websites (since July 2004) www.savedarfur.org and darfurgenocide.org

10 Feb 2005 Support the Genocide Intervention Fund to halt ongoing mass killing and ethnically-targeted violence in Darfur
The Genocide Intervention Fund (GIF) for Darfur is a nongovernmental civil society iniative combining fundraising for the UN-supported African Union Mission in Darfur (AMIS II) with efforts to pressure governments and the UN to pursue a comprehensive strategy to end the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan . The GIF offers donors an unprecedented opportunity to contribute to a peacekeeping force capable of providing security to civilians threatened by genocide. The ongoing crisis in Darfur has killed more than 335,000 and displaced over 2 million Sudanese since February 2003. As of February 2005 the African Union remains the only international organization willing to send troops into Darfur. Financial, equipment and logistical shortages continue to hamper its activities and have contributed to its slow deployment. Thus far, only 1,846 members of a proposed force of 3,230 have been deployed. The campaign’s goal is to send 100,000 letters to government officials urging them to take action against the Sudanese government and to raise $100,000 for the GIF www.GenocideInterventionFund.org

2 Feb 2005 International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur report dated Jan. 25, 2005 released to the public on Jan. 31. 2005, (176 pages, download PDF version (UN website) or HTML version in sections (Aegis Trust website)
Prevent Genocide International comment: Despite the reluctance of this UN Commission to make a finding that genocide is occurring in Darfur, this very important UN Report establishes the basis for UN Security Council action to halt and punish the serious international crimes now occurring in Darfur, Sudan. Though this is a crucial opportunity for action, the Security Council is extremely divided in this issue. Division is greatest among the five permanent Council members, with the United States and Europe (France and the United Kingdom) allowing their long-standing dispute over the International Criminal Court to stop strong action to punish crimes in Darfur. Instead of beginning immediate ICC prosecution the US government wants to create an Ad Hoc Tribunal for Darfur, an action which would delay action for many months or even years. Meanwhile China and Russia, with strong oil and weapons trade ties to the regime in Sudan, are also acting to stop international action. Additionally, the government of Sudan, in the days immediately before the public release of the report, trumpeted the fact that the report did make a finding of genocide while ignoring the other serious crimes found by the Commission. Ultimately all these governments, whether perpetrators or bystanders, are responsible for their failure to take effective action to halt the ongoing mass killing in Darfur.
On the report: Created on the basis of Security Council Resolution 1564 (Sept 18, 2004), in their 176-page report, the Commission state that "There may have been genocidal acts in Darfur and some individuals may be found guilty of genocidal intent. [But] the crucial element of genocidal intent appears to be missing, at least as far as the central government authorities are concerned."Pages 124 -132 of the report address the question "Have acts of genocide occurred?" The four-member Commission, was chaired by Italian judge Antonio Cassese, and conducted its work from Oct. 25, 2004 to Jan. 25, 2005. The other Commission members were Mohammad Fayek (Egypt), Hina Jilani (Pakistan), Dumisa Ntsebeza (South Africa) and Therese Striggner-Scott (Ghana).

5 Jan 2005 Genocidal Crisis in Darfur Obscured by South Asian Tsunami Disaster  "Massive genocidal destruction in Darfur, which has already claimed approximately half as many lives as the Rwandan genocide and gives every sign of claiming hundreds of thousands of additional civilian lives, has evidently lost much of its newsworthiness. Tsunami reportage, important though it is, has overwhelmed foreign news coverage. And the facile optimism in news accounts of the north/south peace agreement to be signed on January 9, 2004 in Nairobi can typically manage to include Darfur only as an afterthought. No matter that the final security arrangements agreed to in the Naivasha (Kenya) peace agreement allow Khartoum an ominously long two and a half years to keep its massive military presence in Southern Sudan. No matter that Khartoum’s brutal militias in the south have been given a full year to decide whether they will jump with Khartoum or to the SPLM/A. No matter that a credible UN peace-support operation is nowhere in sight, and that commitments to adequate transitional assistance for the people of Southern Sudan are equally invisible. No matter that the people of the Nuba Mountains (an area the size of Austria) rightly feel that the Naivasha agreement does not offer them justice. And no matter that there is no evident way in which the SPLM/A can share power in a government that remains committed to genocide as a domestic security policy. . . . What we know now, with complete certainty, is that in the absence of meaningful international intervention in Darfur, genocide will continue and the suffering and destruction of innocent civilians will accelerate. Excerpt from Eric Reeves' 4 Jan 2004 "The Fate of Humanitarian Assistance in Darfur: Intolerable security risks and harassment by Khartoum bring aid organizations in Darfur to the brink of withdrawal" For full text see www.sudanreeves.org