OurPledge

Darfur’s bitter ironies

By Eric Reeves
October 3, 2007 7:30 PM
The Guardian (UK)

It is grimly ironic that a group of international eminences – the “Elders,” as they are called – arrived in Khartoum on Sunday, the same day more than 10 African Union peacekeepers were killed during a large-scale rebel attack near the village of Haskanita, in eastern North Darfur. Chaired by South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, the delegation, which also includes former US president Jimmy Carter and Lakhdar Brahimi, a former UN envoy to Iraq, offered earnest, but now familiar platitudes: “We, the Elders, are here because we care deeply for the fate of our planet, and we feel intensely for the suffering of millions of people in Darfur who yearn for nothing more than peace and dignity.” The rebel force – apparently comprising a faction of the Justice and Equality Movement and rogue commanders from the Sudan Liberation Army Unity faction – took a savagely more expedient view of the situation, seizing a number of vehicles and other military equipment from the AU outpost.

Franklin Templeton, other firms helping to fuel the genocide in Darfur

[Press release from the Save Darfur Coalition:]

‘DIVEST FOR DARFUR’ CAMPAIGN RAPS U.S. MUTUAL FUNDS FOR GENOCIDE-LINKED HOLDINGS

National advertisements, San Francisco ‘station domination’ urge Franklin Templeton, others to divest PetroChina holdings

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1—The Save Darfur Coalition today launched the latest phase of its divestment advertising campaign with provocative national television and online advertisements targeting genocide-linked investments held by firms Franklin Templeton, JP Morgan, Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, and Capital Group. The coalition also unveiled new “station domination” divestment advertisements in San Francisco’s Montgomery Street BART Station specifically targeting San Mateo-based mutual fund company Franklin Templeton. To view the television or online ad, click here: http://www.savedarfur.org/divestment/presskit.