Timeline of Events
- 1946
- July 4
- October 1
- 1948
- June 25
- 1951
- January 12
- 1959
- August 28
- 1961
- December 15
- 1988
- November 5
- 1993
- April 22
- May 25
- 1994
- April 6
- November 8
- 1995
- July 11
- November 21
- 1998
- July 17
- September 2
- 2000
- October 23
- 2004
- June 23
- September 9
- 2006
- March 17
- July 30
- 2009
- March 4
- 2011
- July 9
United States Declares Genocide in Darfur
The burning of Um Ziefa in Darfur, Sudan, on December 12, 2004. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of Brian Steidle
September 9, 2004
For the first time in US government history, an ongoing crisis is referred to as “genocide” when Secretary of State Colin Powell argued that events in Darfur could be labeled as such. In his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Powell said, “We concluded—I concluded—that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility—and that genocide may still be occurring.”
Secretary of State Colin Powell speaks at UN Headquarters. —UN Photo
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