There is also widespread international disagreement over whether genocide has occurred.
The Bush administration had weakened its hand, critics said, by its narrow interpretation of the 1948 U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which calls on signatories to prevent and punish genocide. The administration's position is that the convention does not require a government to take action after it makes a finding of genocide.
Bukadi Bash, 13, lies ill with malaria at the Sureaf camp, South Darfur. The African residents are being moved to another camp, closer to Arab-held land, a move many say they fear.
(Photos Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)
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_____Photo Gallery_____
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A Continuing Crisis: Saida Koomis Idris, 16, is treated by nurse Hasanea Ahmed for wounds she received when Sudanese policemen moved internally displaced people to a new camp.
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_____Crisis in Sudan_____
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Q&A: Darfur A brief explanation of the issues and current humanitarian situation in Western Sudan.
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Photos: Sudan's Rebels
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U.S. Urges Aid to Spur Peace in Sudan (The Washington Post, Nov 15, 2004)
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Sudanese Fearful Following Relocation (The Washington Post, Nov 13, 2004)
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After Accord, Sudan Camp Raided (The Washington Post, Nov 11, 2004)
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Sudan, Rebels Reach Accord On Darfur (The Washington Post, Nov 10, 2004)
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Sudanese Rape Victims Find Justice Blind to Plight (The Washington Post, Nov 8, 2004)
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"It's like taking an accused murderer to court," said Ted Dagne, an African analyst with the Congressional Research Service. "The judge declares him guilty, but then he says, 'Sorry, there are no prisons, so you are free.' "
According to Pronk's report, both the Khartoum government and the Janjaweed may be implicated in mass crimes. The report cited human rights observers who said armed security forces had dug up over 40 bodies from a mass grave in northern Darfur.
African rebel groups, in turn, have been stepping up attacks on government outposts. A new group called the National Movement for Reformation and Development is not a party to the cease-fire agreement and is now reportedly fighting another African rebel faction.
Relief officials said there was also insufficient international funding for food and medical aid. Donors have been slow to respond to calls for help, and U.N. officials said their relief agencies had received only about 75 percent of the $534 million they needed to provide food, water and emergency supplies for one year.
Without a political solution, aid officials said, people may remain locked in camps and dependent on food aid for years.
"If the international community continues to waver and equivocate," said Sam Totten, an American expert on genocide, "there is no doubt in my mind that 10 years from now the international community will [be apologizing] to the victims of Darfur [as it once did to] the Tutsis of Rwanda."
