OurPledge

(Sudan) Letters to Obama

Tucked into a Washington Post story about President Obama’s daily ritual of reading letters from ordinary citizens:

“But [the] biggest job was to organize the mail into about 70 subject folders — an ever-changing list of categories that offers a barometer of the nation’s priorities. About half of the letters in February focused on health-care reform; about half last November focused on the war in Afghanistan. Six to 10 percent of all letters amount to fan mail for Obama, offering him support. Other regular categories include Global Warming, Faith and Politics, Gas Prices, Fort Hood, Death Penalty, Darfur, H1N1, Iran, Jobs, First Lady, Torture, From Inmates, POTUS Health and Single Parents.“

Darfur is on that list. Let’s hope the Sudan movement can continue flooding the White House with its appeals.

Using New Media for Social Good

Kudos! A nice video of Genocide Intervention Network’s Director of MembershipJanessa Goldbeck talking to CBS News:

New violence in Darfur

From The Christian Science Monitor:

“March 4, 2010 — One year ago Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, on charges of crimes against humanity. Now, on the first anniversary of the arrest warrant, fighting is raging in Darfur – the war-torn Sudanese province that is the source of much of the case against Mr. Bashir.”

“…On Wednesday, the US State Department issued a statement saying it is “extremely concerned” about reports of new government offensives against rebels in Darfur. According to United Nations officials, the result has been a new spike in civilian deaths.”

“Cavalier violations”

Reading the below, we wonder: Well, what is the U.S. going to do in the face of these violations?

Reuters, March 4, 2010 — “We know that weapons continue to flow into Darfur, acts of sexual and gender-based violence continue unabated and with impunity, military over-flights and offensive actions continue,” U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council.”

“A 2005 U.N. embargo bans the transfer of military hardware to Darfur, a remote region in western Sudan about the size of France. Khartoum can import arms, but not for use in Darfur.”

“The blatant disregard of the will of the council is undermining stability rather than fostering it, which was the aim of the [sanctions] regime in the first place,” Rice said.”