The year 2009 was the most violent South Sudan has seen since the signing of the 2005 peace agreement, with the death rate higher than in Darfur. In clashes far more serious than simple cattle raids, villages -- rather than cattle camps -- have been attacked and women and children targeted. "Violence is surging," reports Medecins Sans Frontieres. "Plunging people from one disaster to the next." UN officials have noticed an unusual "ease and availability of ammunition" in the region, which suggests an influx of weapons, possibly from northern Sudanese officials interested in breeding chaos in the south.

"This is madness," said Diing Akol Ding, a county commissioner near Duk Padiet, one of the sites of recent violence. Showing a photograph of a dozen people wrapped in blankets, buried in a ditch, he tells The New York Times, "Mass graves? We've never had mass graves."

In Darfur, the situation remains unstable, unpredictable, and dangerous. In December, five peacekeepers from Rwanda, members of UNAMID, the UN force in Darfur, were killed in separate incidents by unidentified gunmen. The UN's latest report on UNAMID documented repeated cases of government officials harassing and limiting movements of the international peacekeepers in violation of the Status of Forces Agreement with the government of Sudan.

International organizations are beginning to ring alarm bells for the entirety of Sudan as the nation's April elections approach. In a new report, "Sudan: Preventing Implosion", the International Crisis Group (ICG) warns that "Sudan is sliding towards violent breakup." It insists that without cooperation to support the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and additional negotiations to settle conflict in Darfur, a "return to North-South war and escalation of conflict in Darfur are likely."

The report further explains that the National Congress Party (NCP) -- the controlling party in Khartoum -- and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the South want elections for the wrong reasons. The NCP hopes to regain legitimacy for President Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The SPLM hopes that elections will help South Sudan focus on its self-determination referendum in 2011. According to the ICG, "[The SPLM] threatens to declare unilateral independence if pushed to accept a referendum postponement."

The dominating interests of the NCP and SPLM threaten to squeeze out opposition parties in both the north and south, as well as disenfranchise millions of citizens who could not register to vote. ICG reports that at least two million Darfur IDPs who have been unable to return home may be kept from the political process, while occupiers of their lands elect local representatives.

While a return to war is not inevitable in Sudan, international actors as well as key players across Sudan must redouble their efforts to guarantee the people of Sudan a secure and politically stable future.

Last night in a special program at the Museum, Ambassador Susan Rice, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, made clear that the U.S. government has adopted benchmarks by which it will measure whether Sudan is making progress in meeting humanitarian and other obligations -- and they will be assessed quarterly. There has been some ambiguity about whether such benchmarks existed. The benchmarks are very specific and have been agreed on by "the highest officials, including the President of the United States, and by us at the principals level," Rice said. The status quo in Sudan, Rice insisted, was inherently unacceptable. Asked whether there had been consequences for the perpetrators in Darfur, Rice replied, "Not enough."

Marking UN Human Rights Day, the discussion at the Museum came at a meaningful time. Earlier in the day, during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, President Obama had spoken about the realities of achieving peace and vowed, "When there is genocide in Darfur, systematic rape in Congo or repression in Burma -- there must be consequences." This week also marked the adoption of the 1948 Genocide Convention, and the one-year anniversary of the Genocide Prevention Task Force, which the Museum convened with the U.S. Institute of Peace and The American Academy of Diplomacy.

The final report of the Task Force offered a blueprint for improving U.S. government response to threats of genocide and mass atrocities. Reflecting about her experiences on President Clinton's National Security Council in April 1994, as genocide swept Rwanda and Clinton's administration failed to act, Susan Rice spoke of the lessons she'd learned for improving government response:

I've often reflected that our greatest failure in the U.S. government -- and I think, frankly more broadly -- was not that we ever took a decision not to act. It was that we never confronted the question... Now that I am at the principals table, as opposed to a junior staffer, I think it's my responsibility and that of my colleagues and those in leadership responsibilities and in Congress and the public and the media to demand answers to those questions and not allow them to be unasked or unanswered.

Visiting the Museum's new interactive installation From Memory to Action: Meeting the Challenge of Genocide before the event, Ambassador Rice wrote her pledge to help meet the challenge of genocide: "Speak the truth." And doing so loudly and emphatically, especially when it most matters.

The following post appeared on "Enough Said", the blog of the Enough Project. It is written by Bridget Conley-Zilkic, the Director of Research and Projects at the Museum's Committee on Conscience.

Unlike an earthquake, tidal wave, or volcano, genocide is entirely manmade. Genocide can be prevented. And that means you can help prevent genocide and what you do matters.

Just one year ago, on December 8, 2008, a task force convened by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the American Academy of Diplomacy, and led by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, released a report detailing how the United States government could better prepare itself to prevent genocide and mass atrocities. Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for U.S. Policy Makers made the case that not only could the United States work more effectively to prevent genocide, but that doing so was in both its moral and strategic interests.

The landmark report confirms that public engagement will make a critical difference. It states: "The American people should build a permanent constituency for the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. (...) We urge the American people to continue to support more assertive government action in response to genocide and mass atrocities." You can help build that constituency and make a difference by visiting www.ipledge2protect.org.

This week, Genocide Intervention Network is hosting The National Canvass to Prevent Genocide in cooperation with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. People all across the country will be talking to neighbors, organizing community events, and doing everything they can to raise the public awareness and the support we'll need to build the movement to prevent genocide. Already, more than 30,000 people have pledged through the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's new interactive installation to meet the challenge of genocide.

We are asking you to join the movement and make your pledge. It's as simple as adding your name.

To lead or join a canvass in your area, click here.

We often hear about genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia, but how much do you know about the acts of genocide that occurred in Guatemala? Thanks to recently released documents, which reveal new details about government-perpetrated atrocities against Mayan communities in the 1980s, we now have an opportunity to learn more.

Guatemala's 36-year civil war claimed over 200,000 lives. Between 1981 and 1983, the violence intensified, when the Guatemalan army carried out a counterinsurgency campaign deliberately aimed at massacring thousands of Mayan civilians. A UN-sponsored truth commission, the Historical Clarification Commission, created after the war ended in 1996, documented horrifying atrocities, which included murder, mutilation, rape, and torture. The Commission held the Guatemalan state responsible for acts of genocide against Mayan communities.

For the first time, Guatemalan military documents that detail the precise nature and intent of these officially-sanctioned massacres have become publicly available through the National Security Archive, an independent non-governmental research institute and library. Having obtained the documents from military intelligence sources in Guatemala, the National Security Archive presented them in testimony before the National Court of Spain, which is investigating the Guatemala genocide case.

According to the National Security Archive, these documents "contain explicit references to the killing of unarmed men, women, and children, the burning of homes, destruction of crops, slaughter of animals and indiscriminate aerial bombing of refugees trying to escape the violence."

The Committee on Conscience at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is working with the Genocide Intervention Network on a new initiative to build support across the country for genocide prevention. From December 1-7, thousands of people will pledge to join the movement to prevent genocide. Add your name to the movement and encourage your family, friends, and communities to get involved. Pledges can be signed online at http:///www.ipledge2protect.org, where you can find more information on this initiative and how to get involved.

Why is my pledge important?

Improving how we prevent and respond to genocide begins with individuals joining together to pledge to build a different future. Your pledge is your commitment to be a part of this movement. By participating, you are joining over 30,000 pledges already made as part of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's new interactive installation, From Memory to Action: Meeting the Challenge of Genocide.

Individual action matters. Together we can build a different future.

We've recently published two new online galleries focusing on Darfur, Sudan and Srebrenica, Bosnia. Although the photographs emphasize the realities of very different conflicts, they reveal common experiences of trauma, loss, and displacement in the aftermath of genocide.

The first gallery displays images taken by Mark Brecke in Darfur, Sudan at the height of the violence in 2004. Brecke traveled to refugee camps in eastern Chad and behind enemy lines in Darfur with the Sudanese Liberation Army. His film, They Turned Our Desert Into Fire, documents his experiences and communicates the stories of voiceless victims.

In the second gallery, photographs by Tarik Samarah in 2002 illustrate the legacy of genocide in Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb forces killed an estimated 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys following the fall of Srebrenica in 1995. In an attempt to hide the evidence of these murders, Bosnian Serb authorities later moved many bodies to secondary and even tertiary mass grave sites. In the process, the remains of bodies were separated and sometimes mixed together, making the subsequent work of international and national authorities to identify them extremely difficult. Samarah's photographs convey the deeply human consequences of these actions.

With the power to capture the complexities of life in a single image, photography plays two unique, distinct, and tremendously important roles in genocide prevention and response. Photographs provide visual evidence so the world can know and remember; they also allow us to understand. By looking at a photograph, we bear witness to the emotions, relationships, and implications of that single moment. In the words of photographer, Ron Haviv, this "time to contemplate, time to absorb, time to put yourself into that situation" has the potential to influence a human being to not only reflect, but also act.

Our website includes an online gallery with hundreds of photographs from regions as diverse as Bosnia, Rwanda, and Chechnya. The gallery also includes images taken by USHMM staff on bearing witness trips to Chad, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In November 2006, during an event called "Darfur: Who Will Survive Today," photographs taken in Darfur and Chad by eight different professional photographers were projected on the facade of the Museum. These photographs include the work of Ron Haviv and are displayed in two albums inside the online gallery.

After spending more than 40 days in Darfur over the course of six months and engaging in over 2,700 consultations with people across Darfur, the African Union Panel on Darfur has delivered its final report. Chaired by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, the Panel described Darfur as a "Sudanese crisis" and stated:

It [the crisis in Darfur] results from a legacy of the unequal distribution of power and wealth in Sudan, whereby peripheral regions, including Darfur, have been historically neglected. The war in Darfur cannot be resolved outside the context of a response to the wider challenges facing Sudan as a nation, of democratic transformation, of creating a new and equitable political and developmental dispensation, and of giving the best chance for national unity.

The report offered recommendations on a range of critical issues, including: establishing a roadmap to end the violence; offering compensation for individual and communal losses; strengthening the UN force in Darfur; and mobilizing Sudan's neighbors to support the peace processes.

Addressing the difficult subject of justice and reconciliation, the Panel recommended forming a hybrid court with international and national judges and investigators. This recommendation was intended to respond to what it described as a polarized discussion of justice after the ICC arrest warrant for President Bashir. By including an international component, the Panel sought to alleviate concerns many Darfurians have about Sudan's justice system, while also acknowledging that the government of Sudan has not recognized the ICC's jurisdiction. Other mechanisms recommended include a truth, justice and reconciliation commission, reparations, and a plan for economic and social recovery.

Although the Panel sets a new standard for African leadership in resolving crises on the continent, the strength of this report will ultimately lie in its implementation. Meanwhile, signs of progress across the whole nation are being watched for carefully as Sudan begins a month-long voter registration drive in a key step towards the April 2010 presidential elections, the first democratic elections in 24 years.

The final report of the African Union Panel on Darfur is available here.

On this day nine years ago, the Rwanda "Media Trial" opened at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Three Rwandan journalists stood before the judges, accused of using the media to spread hate speech and directly incite violence during the 1994 genocide. The trial raised important questions about the nature of speech and genocide: Did media directly influence the killing? What speech is protected under the freedom of the press? How can the intent behind words be determined? In a landmark decision, ICTR judges ultimately convicted all three men of direct and public incitement to genocide, one of several punishable acts outlined in the Genocide Convention. Handing down the verdict, the ICTR judges declared to the men, "Without a firearm, machete, or any physical weapon, you caused the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians."

A newly published article in the Holocaust Encyclopedia, "Incitement to Genocide in International Law", traces the history and development of this crime's definition, from its foundation in the trials of major Nazi war criminals following the Holocaust and WWII to current debates over its use. In a second important trial at the ICTR, on December 2, 2008, ICTR judges found Rwandan composer and singer Simon Bikindi not guilty for his songs espousing hatred of Tutsi. However, they did convict him for statements he made on a loudspeaker in the Rwanda countryside during the genocide. The case demonstrated the difficulty of determining the implications and intent of speech.

Senior prosecutor for the ICTR and profiled here in our gallery of eyewitness testimonies, Stephen Rapp described the significance of issues raised during the Media Trial, "A key question is what kind of speech is protected and where the limits lie. It is important to draw that line. We hope the judgment will give the world some guidance."

On October 19, the Obama Administration unveiled a new strategy toward Sudan, which aims to end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, as well as ensure the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The new policy promises to offer incentives if Khartoum makes progress and "increased pressure" if it does not.

They cited several critical lessons from past dealings with the government of Sudan:

• The United States cannot succeed in achieving our policy by focusing exclusively on Darfur or CPA implementation -- both must be addressed seriously and simultaneously, while also working to resolve and prevent conflict throughout Sudan.
• United States policy must be agile enough to address discrete emergency crises, while maintaining a sustained focus on long-term stability.
• To advance peace and security in Sudan, we must engage with allies and with those with whom we disagree. United States diplomacy must be both sustained and broad, encompassing not just the National Congress Party, SPLM, and major Darfuri rebel groups but also critical regional and international actors.
• Assessments of progress and decisions regarding incentives and disincentives must not be based on process-related accomplishments (i.e., the signing of a MOU or the issuance of a set of visas), but rather based on verifiable changes in conditions on the ground.
• Accountability for genocide and atrocities is necessary for reconciliation and lasting peace.
• It must be clear to all parties that Sudanese support for counterterrorism objectives is valued, but cannot be used as a bargaining chip to evade responsibilities in Darfur or implementing the CPA.

And outlines what their priorities will be moving forward:

1. A definitive end to conflict, gross human rights abuses, and genocide in Darfur.
2. Implementation of the North-South CPA that results in a peaceful post-2011 Sudan, or an orderly path toward two separate and viable states at peace with each other.
3. Ensure that Sudan does not provide a safe haven for international terrorists.

To learn more, read coverage of the new strategy in The New York Times and The Washington Post.