Before moving to Salt Lake City about two years ago, he watched peace treaties fall and war between government forces and rebel groups tear his country apart.

All the while, Awan said, the international community has stood virtually silent.

"Now that you and I are talking about it, this shouldn't be allowed to happen in Darfur," Awan told a group of about 150 people gathered at downtown Salt Lake City's Gallivan Center on Sunday. "These are things I've lived through. If you talk, the solution can be found."

Since major fighting began in 2003, more than 400,000 people have been killed and millions displaced, according to the organization Save Darfur.

Utah is one of 28 states, and the U.S. one of seven countries, participating in an Olympic torch relay that rolled through downtown Salt Lake City. The relay began in the African nation of Chad, and aims at placing political pressure on China, which is hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, to stop its financial aid to groups fighting in Darfur.

''There has been no question what's happening in Darfur is genocide,'' said Mayor Rocky Anderson, who attended the event. ''It is a tragedy that we will look back on in utter shame.''

The mayor chastised the Bush administration for doing too little to aid those being killed and displaced, while billions are spent to carry on the war in Iraq - a war he called an ''utter fiasco.''

''We have the ability to help motivate others to take action,'' Anderson said. ''We cannot leave it to our elected leaders. The leadership has to come from one of us.''

Action also must come from China, whose financial and weapons-sharing agreements with Sudanese officials are promoting the ''wholesale killing of people simply for who they are,'' said Chuck Bruder, chairman of Salt Lake Saves Darfur, a local chapter of the International Save Darfur Coalition.

''As the day dims, so does the hope of the Darfur people,'' Bruder said, noting that one person dies there every five minutes. ''[Every hour] 12 Darfuri babies won't have the opportunity for life.''

Some of those gathered Sunday donned shirts with direct messages such as, ''Don't Repeat History. Stop Genocide.'' Another shirt simply said, ''Dream for Darfur.''

A cool breeze filled the air as the group lit candles and held a minute of silence in memory of those who have died or been displaced by the bloodshed in Darfur.

"We need to make a little more noise so our voice is heard in China and Africa," Awan said. "You are not doing this in vain."

ngonzalez@sltrib.com