Marking the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan unveiled a five-point action plan to prevent or stop future genocides. At the same time, the Secretary-General suggested that the world faced the danger of another genocide developing in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan.

Annan made his comments in a speech to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on April 7. He said that the most important legacy he hoped to leave as Secretary-General was a United Nations “better equipped to prevent genocide, and able to act decisively to stop it when prevention fails.” The risk of genocide remained “frighteningly real,” he added.

Annan's action plan against genocide involves: steps to reduce the likelihood of armed conflict; protection of civilians when armed conflict does occur; ending impunity for those who commit genocide or other crimes against humanity; clear and early warning about the risk of genocide, partly through a new post of Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide; and swift and decisive action when genocide appears imminent or is already taking place.

In this context, Annan said he viewed “with deep foreboding” events in the Sudanese province of Darfur, where fighting between local African insurgents and Arab militias backed by the Sudanese government in Khartoum has been raging for the last year. He quoted the reports of UN officials warning that the government-backed militias were responsible for widespread acts of violence against civilians that could be described as ethnic cleansing.

Annan said that “the international community cannot stand idle,” and called for humanitarian aid officials and human rights monitors to be given access to the region without delay. If that was denied, he said there must be “swift and appropriate action,” though he added that this could take many forms of which military intervention was the most extreme step.

The Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has also announced a “genocide warning” regarding the situation in Darfur.

Related Links:

Darfur Rising: Sudan 's New Crisis

International Crisis Group

March 25, 2004

Sudan: Massive Atrocities in Darfur

Human Rights Watch

April 2, 2004

Deliberate and Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Darfur

Amnesty International

April 7, 2004

UN Rapporteurs Gravely Concerned by Reports of Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan

United Nations News Centre

March 29, 2004

UN Secretary-General Observes International Day of Reflection on 1994 Rwanda Genocide

April 7, 2004

Sudan Tribune

Genocide Warning: Sudan

Committee on Conscience

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

April 7, 2004

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