The Darfur movement has been remarkably clear and coordinated on its position about imposing targeted multilateral and bilateral sanctions against the Government of Sudan’s senior leaders. The Save Darfur Coalition, ENOUGH, STAND, GI-NET, and many others, including my own organization, have made it clear that targeted sanctions (i.e., asset freezes and travel bans, among other things) need to be imposed by the UN Security Council, the European Union, and individual European countries, if and whenever the Government of Sudan obstructs the urgently needed deployment of UN peacekeepers to Darfur—a deployment that the Security Council authorized this summer.
Please take two hours to go see “Darfur Now,” a new film that focuses on six individual responses to the genocide. Even if you’ve seen it already, please do your part to promote awareness and action by seeing it a second time with your friends and family.
This documentary film is not playing everywhere, but you can find out if there’s a showing near you by visiting www.myspace.com/darfurnow. A movie trailer is also available on this page.
WASHINGTON, DC—Kansai Electric Power Company, Japan’s second-largest electricity generation firm, will cut crude oil imports from Sudan over concern that oil revenues are being used to fund the
Sudanese government’s military campaign in Darfur, according to a recent Bloomberg News Report. Another major Japanese generator, Kyushu Electric Power Company, took similar action and urged importers to seek alternative varieties of crude.
Bloomberg also revealed that Japan’s trade ministry has held hearings with the country’s refiners and utilities to study the effects of a possible ban on all oil imports from Sudan in response to the situation in Darfur. Japan, the world’s second largest oil importer and a top importer of Sudanese oil, is the first nation to publicly consider such action since conflict broke out in Darfur over four years ago.
WASHINGTON (AP)—A prominent doctor who treats displaced people in Darfur says the Sudanese government is risking the deaths of hundreds of thousands by forcing people out of the camps where they receive humanitarian aid.
Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah, who runs a human rights group in south Darfur’s capital, Nyala, said he has seen evidence backing a recent U.N. claim that the government was chasing people out of nearby camps.
The government has denied the charge.
Ahmed is in Washington to receive an award from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights for his work in treating victims of torture and sexual violence in Sudan.
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – The expulsion of the top U.N. humanitarian official from South Darfur will hinder efforts to provide aid to some 1 million aid-dependent Darfuris by removing a key member of the aid team, officials said on Thursday.
Wael al-Haj Ibrahim was the 11th aid worker expelled from Sudan this year and the second Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) staff member expelled from South Darfur state in six months.
Al-Haj Ibrahim headed the OCHA office in the town of Nyala.
The forced removals have worried many involved in the Darfur relief effort, the world’s largest humanitarian operation, which helps some 4.2 million victims of the 4-1/2 years of revolt.
Earlier today OurPledge.org’s webhost account went down unexpectedly. This problem affected both this website and our OurPledge.org email accounts. We’ve talked to our webhost, though, and everything’s now back to normal. Our sincere apologies for this.
October 30, 2007 – From the Save Darfur Coalition:
WASHINGTON – The Save Darfur Coalition today praised the unanimous passage of three Darfur-related resolutions in the House of Representatives, including a measure urging more efforts to prevent violence against Darfuri women, including rape and sexual assault. The other two resolutions condemned last month’s attack on African Union peacekeepers and recognized the efforts of Darfur advocates around the world to raise awareness and spur action to end the suffering in Darfur. All three measures passed unanimously.
“The House of Representatives has spoken loud and clear in condemning the brutal violence against Darfuri women and last month’s fatal attacks on African Union peacekeepers,” said coalition spokesman Allyn Brooks-LaSure. “The Congress has been at the forefront of raising awareness and pushing key policies to improve the lives of the Darfuri people.”
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