Witness to genocide An observer watches helplessly as a government-sponsored military operation annihilates African tribes in Sudan - The Register-Gua

Witness to genocide An observer watches helplessly as a government-sponsored military operation annihilates African tribes in Sudan - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA: "Our helicopter touched down in a cloud of camel-brown sand, dust and plastic debris. As the cloud gradually settled into new layers on the bone-dry desert landscape, we could make out the faces of terrified villagers. ``Welcome to Sudan,'' I murmured to myself, grabbing my pen and waterproof notebook.

A former Marine, I had arrived in Sudan's Darfur region in September 2004 as one of three U.S. military observers for the African Union, armed only with a pen, pad and camera. The mandate for the A.U. force allowed merely for the reporting of violations of a cease-fire that had been declared last April and the protection of observers. The observers sometimes joked morbidly that our mission was to search endlessly for the cease-fire we constantly failed to find. I soon realized that this was no joke."