In the heart of Sudan a new cancer grows. But this isn’t the type of infestation that we can treat with medicine—this is man’s doing.

Janjaweed, a word which translates to “devils on horseback” is comprised of mercenaries drawn from nomadic Arab tribes in the region. In addition to using horses to accomplish their missions, they also utilize jeeps and camels.

Members of Janjaweed are criminals—government sanctioned thieves, bandits, and rapists, who are happy to do Sudan’s bidding—exterminate Christians and darker skinned non-Arab farmers. Ethnic cleansing is Sudan’s goal. They desire a pure form of dedicated Muslim Jihad.

Thousands of African villages have been destroyed and sabotaged, including the poisoning of water wells, and the burning of homes and crops. The government of Sudan arms these young men for their unchecked onslaught of brutality, often preceding village raids with air strikes by Sudanese helicopter gunships and fixed wing aircraft.

Men firing automatic weapons murder women and children by the thousands as they ride through the villages on camels and horses. The unending rape of young girls continues each day.

Countless villages have been burned and civilians murdered, while millions have fled to the bush and refugee camps—a place where they are starving and dying from disease.

The Janjaweed are not poorly organized bands of renegades who swoop into villages at random. They are well-trained, well-equipped fighting forces that enjoy the overt support of the Sudanese government. They are a force with which to be reckoned, and are currently unchecked in their actions.

The brutality of this season in African history is difficult to comprehend.