Official: Violence in Darfur continues after U.S. genocide call

Published: 2004-09-14

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Attacks by Arab militiamen against black Africans in the Darfur region of Sudan continued even after the United States accused the Sudanese government of committing genocide, a human rights and aid official said. "There are daily reports of attacks; it never stops," said Omer Ismail, program director of Darfur Peace and Development. Ismail's organization, based in Washington and Darfur, helped prepare the reports that led to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's Sept. 9 Senate testimony that the situation in Darfur was genocide. Ismail told Catholic News Service the declaration of genocide was a "positive development," but that "this was something that should have been declared a long time ago." He said that while the world debated whether genocide had been committed in Darfur the people there continued to suffer. The international community had debated long enough; it was time to take action, he said.

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