Genocide continues in the Darfur region of Sudan and aid from the United Nations is needed, said Former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle, who spoke about his eyewitness account of violence in Darfur on campus Monday in the University Union Hinde Auditorium.

United Nations’ involvement is needed to maintain the African Union’s peacekeeping mission to protect Darfur refugees from the pro-Sudan government of Janjaweed militants, Steidle said.

“We are at the point where it is going to take military action to protect the Darfur refugees,” Steidle said.

Steidle spent six months in 2005 as a U.S. representative on the African Union to monitor the conflict in Darfur, and showed the audience photographs he took of the destruction and pillaging of Darfur villages by members of the Janjaweed and Sudan conscripts, Steidle said.

Steidle described how persecution of Darfur villagers continued as the Sudan government forced Darfur refugees into refugee camps, where the people are malnourished and live in makeshift tents of wood and salvaged garbage.

Many died in the camps due to starvation, disease and potential attacks by the Janjaweed if they venture too far away.

Over 400,000 people have died in Darfur since the ceasefire ended in 2003 between rebel groups and the Sudan government, Steidle said.

“The government of Sudan is a military dictatorship run by Islamic extremists,” Steidle said.

As part of the “Tour of Darfur; Eyewitness to Genocide,” a national speaking tour sponsored by the Save Darfur Coalition, Steidle discussed his firsthand experience of witnessing the mass murder of African Tribes in Darfur, which Steidle describes as “systematic ethnic cleansing.”

The goal of the tour is to increase awareness and encourage the U.S. government to get involved in ending the conflict in Darfur by having audience members sign postcards addressed to President Bush asking him to use his power to “support a stronger multi-national force to protect the civilians of Darfur,” according to the Save Darfur Coalition Web site.

Criminal justice Professor Ernest Uwazie, director of the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution, invited Steidle to speak on campus because he believes their groups shared a common interest in creating a peaceful Africa.

“The goal of Steidle’s campaign is to raise awareness in what is being recognized as the world’s worst genocide crisis,” Uwazie said.

Valesha Provenza, a senior government major focusing on international relations, found Steidle’s work to be admirable.

“It takes a lot of strength to witness the acts of genocide firsthand and be able to photograph it,” Provenza said.

Steidle is now working with the Global Grassroots Organization to produce a film documenting his experience visiting the destroyed villages and refugee camps in Darfur.

For more information, visit www.savedarfur.org.

Matthew Beltran can be reached at [email protected]