"This is a tsunami. This is no small thing. This is an emergency."

Those are the words of Jan Egeland, the United Nation's undersecretary for humanitarian affairs. He is referring to the situation in Darfur, a dry, desolate, swathe of land about the size of Texas, tucked neatly into the western part of Sudan.

In Darfur, tens of thousands of black Africans have been systematically slaughtered by an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed. Tens of thousands of women and children have been raped and mutilated, while millions more have been forced to flee their homes.

The United Nations says the Janjaweed is sponsored by the Sudanese government. Over the weekend, Sudan agreed to accept a peace deal brokered by the African Union, but the Janjaweed and other rebel groups have yet to agree to terms.

Someone once called Darfur the land of the three Ds -- death, disease and despair. According to the United Nations, Darfur is the world's worst humanitarian disaster. U.S. officials have another phrase for this slow-building tsunami -- genocide in the 21st century.

The poorest of the poor wind up in refugee camps. At last count that number was somewhere around three million people. But this may be for only a short while, as the few aid agencies still able to operate here are attacked regularly by the Janjaweed.

"Three million lives are at stake. Three million people need food," says the U.N.'s Egeland.

How does one begin to organize to feed three million hungry, angry people? So far this year, a handful of countries have contributed more than $100 million in aid. But the United Nations says it would need five times that amount to prevent millions of people from becoming extinct in plain sight.