PHOTO: A photo of Samuel Totten is available at http://advancement.uark.edu/news.
Newswise — After Samuel Totten had interviewed his first 25 refugees from Darfur, Sudan, he could see the chilling pattern of genocide taking shape. He went on to interview a total of 49 individuals in his two weeks at Goz Beida, a desert village in Chad that is the site of a camp for 13,500 refugees. It is located on a dusty plain encircled by mountains near the southern border of Chad and Sudan.
Totten, a University of Arkansas education professor who specializes in genocide studies, was an investigator with the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project, which was based in Chad in late July. Totten was one of 24 investigators selected by the Center for International Justice from more than 600 applicants.
In the past 13 years, Totten has published extensively on the Holocaust and genocide, including issues of intervention, prevention and education. He was recommended for the investigation team by Jerry Fowler, director of the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
In a report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 9, Secretary of State Colin Powell concluded that "genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the government of Sudan and the jinjaweid bear responsibility"¦." The jinjaweid or janjaweed, meaning "horsemen," are Arab marauders who typically ride horses or camels.
Now that the State Department has issued its findings, Totten has been permitted to talk about what he learned in Chad.
Totten's co-investigator at Goz Beida was Brenda Sue Thornton, currently a prosecutor with the U.S. Justice Department and a former prosecutor with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. They each spoke to randomly selected refugees, attempting to interview an adult from every 10th tent in the camp. Totten interviewed a great variety of people, young and old, men and women, many of whom had been beaten or shot or had seen members of their family slain.
"Most people were very willing to answer our questions, and for many it seemed somewhat cathartic to tell their story," Totten said.
Totten has met many survivors of genocide and has attended trials—including that of Slobodan Milosevic—at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, based in The Hague. While those experiences and his research prepared him for the emotional impact of the refugee's accounts, Totten said it was difficult to hear story upon story every day for two weeks, particularly when the people he was interviewing broke down and could not continue speaking.
Totten identified some key findings that likely helped lead the U.S. State Department to declare that genocide had been perpetrated in Sudan. First, black Africans were specifically targeted in each village, while Arabs living in the same villages were not touched. The attacks were coordinated by the Sudanese government, Arab militias and janjaweed. The attacks were systematic, resulting in thousands of murders, including numerous mass killings.
Racial epithets were often used during the attacks, making it clear that blacks were not wanted in the Sudan. Mass rape was also common. Finally, hundreds, and probably thousands, of villages were completely destroyed, and there was massive displacement of over a million individuals.
Investigators heard stories of vicious attacks on villages with groups of people—ranging in size from 70 to 140 or more—being rounded up and killed en masse. From the investigations by the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project, other non-governmental organizations and the United Nations, Totten said that it is indisputable that black Africans in Sudan have been targeted for death or serious bodily or mental harm, "in whole or in part." Such a finding constitutes, in the words of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, perpetuation of genocide.
In fact, Totten was struck by the systematic nature of the killing. Among the refugees, almost all households had been affected by murder, rape or the destruction of property or cattle. Routinely, planes and bombs terrorized villagers from the air, while Sudanese military troops and Arab militia and janjaweed attacked on the ground. He personally gathered information about five villages in a row being attacked on the same day in the same way.
"In each case, military troops initially rounded up villagers under the guise of collecting taxes only to attack the villagers once they were all out in the open. The attacks appeared to be well-planned and coordinated and suggest the intent to destroy the black Africans of the Sudan," Totten said.
Totten emphasized the participation and responsibility of the Sudanese government. "In almost every attack described to me, the Sudanese military was involved. I recorded first-person accounts of the military providing the janjaweed with weapons."
Refugees reported that during the attacks racial epithets were common. Victims were called slaves or dogs or told, "People like you don't deserve to live." Some victims reported that attackers stated they were acting under orders of the Sudanese government.
"There is a long history in the field of genocide studies that has shown name-calling to be a precursor to many genocidal incidents," Totten said. "Calling black Africans 'dogs' is a classic case of the victim group being disparaged as less than human."
Totten also heard of numerous rapes against young women by both Sudanese soldiers and Arab militia. Some of the stories came from the women themselves and others from family members and villagers. Recently, in certain tribunals, mass rape has begun to be recognized as an act of genocide, Totten noted.
"Such brutality against young girls and women yet again underscores the critical need for the international community to act sooner rather than later to assist populations under attack," Totten said. "Far too often girls and women bear the brunt of vicious attacks that violate their very selfhood."
Pointing to the United Nations' estimate of one million people from Darfur who have been displaced, Totten said, "No matter what it is designated, the situation calls for immediate attention by the United Nations and all those who respect the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights."
He was heartened by the designation of genocide announced by Secretary of State Colin Powell and is hopeful that the U.N. resolution to investigate the charges of genocide will proceed swiftly. Totten said that it is vital that military troops protect the refugees and the black African villagers, especially in light of reports of janjaweed incursions into Chad.
"It does no one any good to have a situation deemed genocide if nothing is done to stanch the killing. Action must be taken now versus some time in the future. Each day that goes by, more and more innocent people are killed, maimed and left to starve to death or to live a life of abject misery."
Totten has volunteered to return to Chad or to the Sudan with the Center for International Justice to take part in future investigations. In the meantime, he is writing about his experiences for genocide studies journals and for publications aimed at policymakers. He is also writing a book about the situation with Dr. Eric Markusen, a researcher from the Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and with another investigator with the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project.
RSS