An event notice from our friends at the Save Darfur Coalition:
What: A Night to End Violence Against Women in Darfur Who: Women and Men Across the United States and Abroad Where: Local Communities, Including Yours, United to Save Darfur! When: February 11, 2008
Growing up in a small town in North Darfur, Niemat Ahmadi’s eldest aunt was the decision maker in her family, above even her father. But today, women are under attack in Darfur. Rape is endemic. The Sudanese government and its janjaweed militias continue to conduct a campaign of sexual violence against women and girls. This is emblematic of Khartoum’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and scorched earth policies throughout the region. It was in this much-changed landscape that Niemat carried a twelve-year old Darfuri girl bleeding from a sexual assault by seven men to a hospital where she was blocked by police officers.
From a November 2008 Op-Ed by David Scheffer, a U.S. ambassador at large for war crimes issues from 1997 to 2001:
“The evidence presented by Moreno-Ocampo appears compelling. The prosecutor’s investigation reveals that, since 2003, Bashir’s forces and agents have driven about 2.5 million Sudanese, including substantial numbers of the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, into camps of internally displaced persons. They then raped and inflicted other forms of severe sexual violence on thousands, and continue to do so. A common tactic is for the janjaweed militia and Sudan’s armed forces and security agents to lie in wait outside the camps to rape — or often gang-rape — the women and girls who come out to collect firewood, grass or water in order to survive.”
“Maybe around 20 men rape one woman,” said one victim in a report cited by the prosecutor. “These things are normal for us here in Darfur. … They rape women in front of their mothers and fathers.”
Today, take some time to make sure that Sudan is a top priority from Day 1 of Barack Obama’s presidency.
Join student activists across the country by calling 1-800-GENOCIDE (1-800-436-6243) to speak with your Senator’s office.
In early January, the Senate has a unique opportunity to make Sudan a priority for the incoming Obama administration. How? President-elect Obama’s nominees to to key foreign policy positions — like Secretary of State and UN Ambassador — cannot take office until they are confirmed by the Senate. Nominees Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice will have to answer questions from Senators about their priorities and plans during confirmation hearings.
Call 1-800-GENOCIDE (1-800-436-6243) right now and ask your Senator to make sure the nominees lay out their Sudan plans during the confirmation hearings.
The nominees will appear before the Senate in January. Will your Senator ask about Sudan?
Call 1-800-GENOCIDE (1-800-436-6243) and speak to your Senator today!
If you have a few spare minutes today, check out and bookmark the Enough Project’s brand-new website. Of special note is the organization’s new blog, Enough Said. Expect some great commentary to be posted there.
Enough is helping to build a permanent constituency to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity. In many ways, they are the “Intel chip” of the Sudan movement, providing advocates with a backbone of expert analysis and news from the field.
“A top-100 list gives [Sudanese President] Omar al-Bashir too much company. In a number of ignominious post-World War II categories, Sudan’s dictator ranks in the top five: most deaths as a result of war strategies (2.5 million in Darfur and southern Sudan), most people rendered homeless by scorched-earth policies (7 million), most villages burned to the ground (at least 1,500 in Darfur alone). Bashir’s one goal is to maintain power. He has sown discord in Darfur with a classic divide-and-conquer strategy. As a result, interethnic conflict is tearing the region apart, and attacks on aid agencies by government and rebel militias have left a million people beyond the reach of humanitarian aid. Bashir, 63, has blocked the deployment of a larger U.N.-led peacekeeping operation that would protect Darfur’s civilians.”
Released this morning. From our friends over at SDC:
WASHINGTON, December 17, 2008 – The Save Darfur Coalition today blasted revised U.N. figures for end-of-year UNAMID troop deployment, which fail to meet an already downgraded target. While U.N. officials previously pledged to deploy a modest 80 percent of the mission by this month – almost 18 months after the force was authorized – that number was lowered to 60 percent in October. Jerry Fowler, Save Darfur Coalition president, denounced this failure and underscored the need for President-elect Obama to make ending this crisis a priority from his first day in office.
“It is an outrage that the world’s leading powers can muster only 54 percent of a peacekeeping mission that they themselves authorized 17 months ago. While heads of state profess their sympathies for, and solidarity with, the Darfuri people they follow-up heartfelt talk with half-hearted actions. Members of the U.N. Security Council and their collective 54 percent effort deserve at best an “Incomplete” and are on a path for an “F,” as lasting peace, justice and security continue to elude the Darfuri people.
“This is the challenge President-elect Obama will inherit – and one he must be prepared to confront from day one of his administration. We and others urge him to end the crisis instead of merely managing it by leading a ‘peace surge’ for Darfur. President-elect Obama must seize this opportunity by rallying key powers to devote full-time attention and resources to ending the continued hostilities, violence and suffering once and for all. Fifty-four percent efforts won’t be good enough – he must lead the world in devoting a 100 percent effort to resolve this crisis.”
Strong evidence has emerged of children and adults being used as slaves in Sudan’s Darfur region, a study says.
Kidnapped men have been forced to work on farmland controlled by Janjaweed militias, a coalition of African charities says.
Eyewitnesses also say the Sudanese army has been involved in abducting women and children to be sex slaves and domestic staff for troops in Khartoum.
But Khartoum said the report was “very naive” and called the authors ignorant.
“The government does not condone abductions and it is not government policy,” a government spokesman told the BBC.
“We are working hard to stop such violations. The rebel factions are mostly to blame for abductions in Darfur.”
Up to 300,000 people have died since conflict began in Darfur in 2003 and at least 2.7 million people have fled their homes.
Thousands of people from non-Arabic speaking ethnic groups in Darfur have been targeted, says the report, published by the Darfur Consortium on Wednesday.
The group of 50 charities says it has around 100 eyewitness accounts from former abductees.
Victims have been rounded up during joint attacks on villages by the Arabic-speaking Janjaweed and the Sudanese Armed Forces, according to the study.
Chances are you missed this. Here’s a January 2008 video of The New York Times‘ Nicholas Kristof, recounting the stories of Darfuri survivors. This is a graphic but necessary testimony: the world needs to know what the Sudanese government is doing to the people of Darfur. Genocidal violence continues today in Western Sudan.
Darfur groups pin high hopes on Obama team
By Matthew Lee
WASHINGTON (AP) — Human rights activists waging a high-profile campaign to end the violence in Sudan’s western Darfur region are pushing President-elect Barack Obama and his team to re-energize efforts to end the nearly six-year conflict.
Even before Obama takes office next month, advocates want members of the incoming administration — some of whom have intense and personal interests in the issue — to make Darfur a top foreign policy and national security priority and begin identifying top officials to concentrate on the crisis starting on Jan. 20.
The activists believe Obama, America’s first black president, is well positioned to ride the wave of popularity and goodwill his election has sparked to rally the world to their Darfur cause, which has struggled for attention amid other overseas dilemmas and the financial meltdown despite continued fighting that has claimed up to 300,000 lives.
“There is a new window of opportunity,” said Jerry Fowler, director of the Save Darfur Coalition, an umbrella group of 180 organizations that claim 130 million members and supporters. “We want them to take advantage of this incredible outpouring of enthusiasm in the rest of the world to the election and launch a sustained peace process to end this.”
Coalition members have put forward a six-point proposal they want to see the Obama team initiate now.
It calls for the identification of a senior-level official to handle the Darfur portfolio, creation of a State Department “cell” to monitor the situation full-time, and the appointment of two special envoys: one to deal with Darfur and the other to deal with the faltering peace deal that ended Sudan’s long-running North-South civil war.
They also want the new administration to work with the U.N. to expand an existing arms embargo and enforce a ban on offensive military flights over Darfur by the Sudanese.
Save Darfur is participating in a contest run by Change.org and MySpace that’s called “Ideas for Change in America.” The top 10 ideas will be presented to the Obama administration on Inauguration Day. Then, Change.org, MySpace, and their partners will build a national campaign to advance those ideas in Congress. The first round of voting ends on December 31. The top three ideas from each of the 30 categories will make it into the second round. Round two voting starts on January 5 and ends January 15.
Save Darfur has an idea listed in the Genocide category. Please read more and vote for this idea! [Voting requires registration, but it's simple and painless.] Help us make it into the finals, so that we can be sure that President-elect Obama makes Darfur a priority from day one!
Email: info[at]ourpledge.org
Phone: 650.353.7738