UUSC leaders return from fact-finding trip on Darfur crisis

More than 200,000 refugees have fled the violence in Darfur and are living in places such as this Milé refugee camp in eastern Chad. (Photo by Charlie Clements/UUSC)

Cambridge, Mass., November 20, 2005–UUSC President Charlie Clements and Programs Director Atema Eclai recently completed a fact-finding mission to examine firsthand the devastating consequences of the genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. They were accompanied on the 10-day trip by the Rev. William Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and trip photographer Danielle Sinkford.

The group visited refugee camps in eastern Chad, which borders Darfur and where more than 200,000 refugees have fled to escape the violence that has taken the lives of more than 300,000 people and driven nearly 2.5 million from their homes.

"In the United States we read statistics about ethnic cleansing and the refugee crisis," said Clements. "But here in Chad we put faces on these statistics and heard the refugees themselves tell us wrenching stories of constant attacks by the Janjaweed militia, often accompanied by the Sudanese army.

"Army helicopters rise up from the horizon and strafe the innocent, while cargo planes roll crude bombs onto the villages. The Janjaweed come on horseback and shoot anyone they see as they round up the livestock – cattle, goats, and camels – the villagers' wealth and lifeline. Then they set all of the houses on fire."

The trip to the refugee camps also was planned as a forerunner to subsequent UUSC delegation visits that will include U.S. policymakers and their aides.

UUSC has been providing humanitarian assistance in Darfur since 2004, and has advocated for the United States, the United Nations, and other international organizations to pressure the Sudanese government to end its attacks on Darfurians and disarm the Janjaweed.

Note to Editors: Charlie Clements is available for interviews about the crisis in Darfur. For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Dick Campbell at 800-388-3920, ext. 230, or by e-mail at dcampbell@uusc.org.