More than 20 Washington University students met on the second floor of Eads Hall for the inaugural meeting of the Darfur Action Coalition last Thursday. The coalition was formed in response to the conflict in Darfur, a western region of Sudan, where since 2003 fighting has occurred between the Janjaweed militia group and movements against the Sudanese government.

Senior Maya Tobias and junior Benjy Katz founded the group. Tobias, a senior, is currently writing her thesis on Darfur and genocide, and Katz, a junior, is the co-president of the University chapter of Amnesty International.

The United States has labeled the conflict in Sudan as genocide, and Tobias drew parallels between the current conflict and the Nazi Holocaust.

“I grew up learning about the Holocaust and believing it couldn’t happen now,” said Tobias. “I started thinking about [the Darfur conflict] last fall semester and now I want to continue working with Benjy on it.”

“Over half the population [of Darfur] has been affected by this,” said Katz. “There’s a huge humanitarian crisis facing Darfur right now.”

The coalition is a chapter of STAND, or Students Taking Action Now, an intercollegiate student anti-genocide coalition that is a partner of the Genocide Intervention Network. Students at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. fomed the first chapter of STAND in response to the outbreaks of fighting in Sudan and is currently adapting a global focus of stopping genocide.

Tobias stressed during the meeting the urgency of the Darfur conflicts. The coalition has noted that 400,000 of the 6 million individuals in Darfur have died in the conflict and 2 to 3 million individuals have become internally displaced, in addition to over 150,000 refugees in Chad, a neighboring African nation to the west.

“This really is a humanitarian crisis and an overwhelming conflict,” she said. “But we’re going to start [addressing it] today.”

Co-founder Katz wants to correct misconceptions surrounding the conflict and presented students with Darfur’s background and history with regard to the current fighting. He explained the effects of British colonialism, Britain’s indirect rule of Darfur and subsequent civil war amongst the Sudanese. The conflict, Katz argued, was not merely religiously or ethnically motivated.

“This is something that has political and economic factors,” he said.

One factor that Tobias and Katz noted was the Sudanese government’s complicity in the conflict. The Sudanese government, while denying support of the Janjaweed, has provided arms and supplies for the militia group.

“The Sudanese government is supporting the Janjaweed,” said Tobias. “What makes this a moral issue is that it’s state-sponsored.”

Committees for the coalition were discussed and formed during the inaugural meeting. The coalition intends to begin fundraising with a charity ball. The funds will be sent to organizations providing aid for the conflict. Students in the coalition also planned to increase advocacy and awareness of the conflict, largely through letters to Congress and public officials, endorsement and surveys of students regarding Darfur. The coalition hopes to reach at least an 85 percent level of awareness of the issue on the University campus.

Near the end of the meeting, Tobias encouraged students to take action by making the Darfur conflict an issue with public officials.

“I think that this club is important because I really believe that we need to show our legislators that this is an issue that is important to us. There is no easy solution to this conflict,” said Tobias. “Our government should be doing everything in its power to stop it and they are not going to make it a top priority unless we as citizens tell them to.”

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