MEMO

Date:November 1, 2006

To:[Hilary Clinton]

From:[XYZ]

Topic:United States should put more pressure on the Khartoum government to end the Darfur crisis and to improve the situation in Sudan

Background and Context

Sudan is located in northeastern Africa with the coastline on Red Sea. It is largest state in Africa by territory, sharing borders with nine other countries, and it is tenth largest country in world. The region has suffered through two long periods of civil war since 1970s. There has been an ongoing humanitarian crisis in western region of Darfur, with United Nations estimating that 400,000 Darfuri's may have already died in raids by local militia since 2003. Millions have been displaced to nearby Chad.

The population of Sudan is 39,379,000 and growing at 2.08 percent annually. Eighty percent of population engages in agriculture. In 2003, the new rebellion began in western province of Darfur, during which government committed terrible atrocities. Two rebel groups, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), challenged authority of NIF government in Khartoum that views itself as protector of Islam in Sudan. (http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2008/September/20080919153013xjsnommis0.4507563.html)

They accused government of discriminating against and oppressing non-Arabs. The government of Sudan dismissed SLM and JEM as terrorists. They burned villages, raped women, and prevented people from returning to their homes. After ceasefire negotiations in April 2004, African Union (AU) monitors ceasefire but violence continues on both sides.

The situation in Sudan's Darfur, according to UN currently world's worst humanitarian disaster, and continues to deteriorate, largely due to repeated and deliberate denial of access for NGOs by government officials. By some estimates, ethnic cleansing in Darfur may have already claimed as many as 400,000 lives. Almost 2 million people became internally displaced and live in crude camps in neighboring states. According to UN estimates, 10,000 people die every month in Darfur.

Stakes

Washington has the strategic interest in Sudan. A failed and chaotic state creates the power vacuum, and hence, provides the fertile breeding ground for Islamic terrorists. The disruptive security climate in the failed state makes it easy to procure weapons used by terrorists. Poverty and lack of development remain omnipresent in Sudan. This provides an environment that better educated and more prosperous terrorist leaders do exploit. Different terrorist groups have close connections to regime in Sudan. (http://www.darfurconsortium.org/darfur_crisis/timeline.html)

Osama bin Laden and his deputy lived in Sudan and directed al-Qaeda operations from there between 1991 and 1996. Bin Laden established an extensive training camp infrastructure as well as ...