I have a hard time believing that I feel the need to once again address this topic, and I can't even tell you the sense of hopelessness I feel settle in my soul with that thought. If I, with my comfortable home, safe life, food, water, etc., feel such hopelessness, how must the people of Darfur feel, living with death, rape, torture, and starvation on a daily basis? How is it that after more than four years of saying this cannot continue, the genocide goes on? Despite the Darfur Peace Agreement brokered in May of 2006, the United Nations reports that "violence has increased since late 2005 and has continued unabated into 2007." Estimates of deaths from the conflict itself and from lack of food, water, and health care among the refugees is estimated between 200,000 and 400,000. Over 2.5 million people have been displaced. Villages have been bombed and burned. Wells and livestock are deliberately destroyed. In the words of the United States Bishops, "this new wave of violence points to a collective failure on the part of the international community to stem what can only be described as a catastrophe." The people in the refugee camps cannot survive without water and firewood, and so they must leave the supposedly safe refugee camps to collect these essentials. If the men go for water and firewood, they risk being castrated and killed; if the the women and children to, they risk being gang raped and abducted. The choices these families have to make are not choices any human being should ever have to face. At the same time, because of the increased violence, humanitarian workers are increasingly less able to get supplies to those who need them most, both because of the extreme danger involved, and because they are frequently being denied access to the country by the Sudanese government. The UN report concluded:

The situation is characterized by gross and systematic violations of human rights and grave breaches of international humanitarian law. War crimes and crimes against humanity continue across the region. . . . While important steps have been taken by the international community, including the African Union and the United Nations, these have been largely resisted and obstructed, and have proven inadequate and ineffective. . . . The Mission further concludes that the Government of the Sudan has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes, and has itself orchestrated and participated in these crimes. As such, the solemn obligation of the international community to exercise its responsibility to protect has become evident and urgent.

I am sure that many of you, like me, have worried and prayed over the situation in Darfur. Maybe you have contacted Congress and the President to express your concerns or signed a petition. I know that there is extreme frustration with the feeling of futility this situation engenders. The US has pledged financial support, and President Bush did appoint a special envoy, Ambassador Andrew Natsios, to work on the situation with Sudan. Part of the problem is that the Africa Union troops on the ground do not have a mandate to protect civilians, but only a mandate to monitor the ceasefire. They have neither the numbers (7,000 troops) nor the equipment to do either. Many of the soldiers go months without being paid, they are demoralised, and the African countries involved are starting to talk about pulling their troops out. The Sudanese government is resisting efforts to deploy a combined UN - AU force of 20,000 troops.

The USCCB is calling for the following:

1. Ask the U.S. to pressure both the government and the rebels to respect a ceasefire and to intensify the search for a just and durable peace, while urging both Sudan and Chad to refrain from supporting each other’s rebel movements.
2. Urge the U.S. to use its voice in the UN Security Council to continue and strengthen the mandate of the African Union in Darfur to monitor the ceasefire, protect innocent civilians and assist international humanitarian relief organizations, while urging NATO to provide AMIS with all possible logistical support, until its transition to a more robust, well funded force with a strong mandate.
3. Encourage the U.S. Administration to hold the signatories to the peace agreement accountable and to honor its promise to provide substantial financial and political support to the government of national unity to undertake the reconstruction of the country and its civil society.
4. Urge the UN Security Council to continue its support for the peacekeeping mission that is working with all parties to the national-unity government to implement the peace accord. The United States should provide adequate funding and logistical support so that peace and security might be achieved.

To see how our senators and representatives have voted on various Darfur legislative methods, go to the Darfur Scorecard website. I encourage all of you to continue urging those in Congress and our administration to keep the issue of Darfur as a top priority for our country and for all humankind. I am glad that the Catholic Church has been proactive, not only in lobbying for the international community to step in and do something about Darfur, but also in directly helping those most in need through Catholic Relief Services. CRS provides an easy way for us to contact our government with our concerns as well as a way to support the direct aid that is being given to those living in the midst of this nightmare. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops also is part of the executive committee of Save Darfur, a coalition of many different organizations all working together to help the people of Darfur. The one small light in the darkness of this situation for me was reading the list of member organizations in this coalition. The list contains various Islamic, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, and Unitarian organizations, as well as different charitable, ethnic, regional, etc., groups who have put aside any and all differences to recognize that our common humanity is greater than any of the differences between us, and to say with one voice that what has happened and continues to happen in Darfur is an affront to that humanity.