John Prendergast, a former Clinton administration official and senior advisor for the nonprofit International Crisis Group, warned last night that the humanitarian crisis in Darfur is escalating and that only a radical policy shift will produce results.

Prendergast, who has visited the western province of Sudan several times, said the conflict is continuing to escalate.

“We don’t have the best numbers,” Prendergast said, “But post facto, I think we will find that this will be one of the deadliest periods we have seen. It is devastating to have to listen to stories of villagers who talk about their homes being burned, women being gang raped or children losing their parents.”

Although the crisis has been sometimes characterized as one between Arabs and non-Arabs, Prendergast said that this is not the case. The violence, he argued, is state-sponsored, and he urged the adoption of policies aimed at ensuring the accountability of the government of the troubled country.

“Sudan has a responsibility to dignify human life,” Prendergast said. “But until there is a cost for committing genocide, people will continue to do it. It is very simple.”

He said that “cost” should be imposed by freezing assets, threats of military power and international legal consequences.

Although he said that all three components should play a role, Prendergast cautioned against over-reliance on armed forces.

“Exclusive military strategy won’t change the equation,” he said. “Rather, the fastest and easiest way to impact the ground is through political means.”

The former State Department official warned of dire repercussions for the people of Darfur if current policy trends toward the region are not reversed.

“If we don’t move that policy towards a more robust and more pressure focused policy, hundreds of thousands of people will die over the next six months,” he said.

Prendergast argued that the most critical ingredient for change is citizen activism in the United States. Without this, he said, Congress and the executive branch will continue to support policies that are ineffective and futile. He drew allusions to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where the United States government failed to act against mass killings.

“It is in our hands,” he said. “It is clear to me that the one ingredient that we didn’t have in 1994 was any sense of public outcry, a constituency to push. But we have that constituency now.”

Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND), which sponsored the event, has worked to increase the size of that constituency. Last April, the group organized a “Day of Conscience for Darfur” rally in San Francisco and raised more than $15,000 for humanitarian relief. Currently, the organization’s “Darfur Advocacy Pledge” has over a hundred Stanford students and community members signed up to take weekly action by contacting their legislators.

“Through our emails, phone calls and letters, we are sending a strong and consistent message to our senators and congressional representatives,” said STAND coordinator Elissa Test, a senior.

“We hope to build a dynamic grassroots movement to help stop this genocide,” said Test. “But we can’t be effective without significant help from the Stanford community.”

Amid calls for grassroots campaigning, some audience members expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of student attendance.

“I am surprised and disappointed that more people did not come,” said sophomore Stephanie Rodriguez. “He is a powerful speaker and I think they would have benefited from hearing him.”

Others called for a more explicit statement of what concerned citizens can do.

“There was a lot of focus on international intervention, but not much emphasis on what local people themselves can do,” said Zimbabwe native Girley Tegama, an administrative assistant in the Geophysics Department.

Despite individual points of contention, Test maintained that the night was a success.

“I was re-inspired to commit to action,” she said. “I think everyone was as well.”