Cross-posted at www.dailykos.com, AND Front-paged at E Pluribus Media.org and My Left Wing
My family and I attended a rally at the Sudanese Embassy in DC on Sunday, to call attention to the ongoing genocide in Darfur. We donned blue hats to call for the deployment of UN troops. We blew rape whistles and wore white to protest the use of rape as a way to torture and terrorize the women and girls as young as 8.
One speaker noted that only 20% of the people here in the US could even tell you what’s happening in Darfur – or where it is on the map. Not so here – I’d guess the good people here are informed enough to discuss this issue intelligently. But I’m here today to ask you to do more than talk about it. The AU troops will leave on December 31st and time is running out – I need your help my friends.
Make the jump…
The Sudanese government is using airplanes to attack villages. The UN has marked out a no-fly zone but without UN troops on the ground, there’s no way to enforce that no-fly zone.
A speaker at Sunday’s rally said the government’s attacking UN workers now.
And now they’re attacking convoys with RPGs and killing aid workers. Sunday’s news included an AP article about 30 people who were killed or burned alive in one such convoy…
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/12/10/sudan.darfur.ap/index.html
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Some 30 civilians were killed by militiamen who ambushed their refugee convoy in western Darfur, and African Union peacekeepers investigating the attack were taken hostage by rioters, the AU and the U.N. said.
The United Nations said armed men on horseback ambushed the civilian truck transporting medicine and relief items between the towns of El Geneina and Sirba.
The exact number of civilians killed could not be confirmed, but was estimated at around 30 people, said Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Sudan.
“Some of the passengers were shot by the attackers and others were burnt to death during the attack,” the U.N. said in a separate statement Sunday.
An international aid worker said the assailants were government-backed janjaweed — members of an Arab tribal militia — and that they attacked the convoy with rocket-propelled grenades, then executed survivors. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of restrictions the Sudanese government has placed on aid workers.
But this isn’t the first time an aid convoy has been attacked. Human Rights First has compiled an ongoing list of these attacks and you can see this list here – Human Rights First – it includes information on harassment of the press, non-cooperation with UN officials, and outright attacks.
So – about those rapes…
I’m guessing we all have wives, daughters, sisters or mothers right? We may even know & love a little girl of say 8 years of age. My own daughter’s just a little younger than that and I hugged her tight to me as a speaker at yesterday’s rally told us that little girls as young as 8 are being raped in camps in Darfur.
Eight years old – just imagine that happening to a little girl you know and love Put her face on one of the many victims of the government sponsored terrorists in Darfur.
The Sudanese government and their militias are using rape as a weapon to eradicate the Africans of Darfur. Women and girls are not only raped when they leave the camps to get food or wood for cooking, but now they’re being attacked INSIDE these camps. There’s no safe haven for them any more – they’re walking targets for the terrorists of the very people who should be protecting them from these attacks.
You can imagine the terror if you’re a woman reading this. If you’re a guy with a family, imagine the choice the men of Darfur face daily… go out or send your son out to find food and wood and risk being killed – or send your wife or young daughter out knowing she may well be brutally and violently raped. Some choice – huh?
A speaker at that rally (a minister I think) reminded us that there are real people behind the numbers coming out of Darfur.
Two to three million displaced people living (if you can call it living) in camps inside Darfur and in Chad.
Four to six hundred thousand dead.
Eighty children under the age of 5 – dead each day from starvation & disease.
These are people – not numbers. It’s easy (or convenient) to forget that after so many have been killed. Call it a defense mechanism – call it laziness. Either way – we have got to keep these people in our hearts and do all we can to help those who’ve managed to survive thus far.
Someone was handing out fliers at that rally calling for immediate action Here’s what they’re calling for and it’s up to us to help make it happen…
Time is Running Out.
We need action.
DEPLOY the already authorized UN peacekeeping force.
STRENGTHEN the understaffed African Union force already in Darfur
ENFORCE a No-Fly Zone in Darfur already established by the UN.
INCREASE humanitarian aid and ensure access for delivery.
PRESIDENT BUSH must back the strength of his words with the power of his office. He must work with other world leaders to ensure that the United Nations has the leadership and the tools it needs to do the job he is asking it to do.
CONGRESS must provide both the oversight and the funding necessary to ensure that the will of the American people to help end the genocide in Darfur is being carried out effectively.
THE UNITED NATIONS and all of its member states must put the real needs of the Sudanese people in Darfur ahead of the false concerns of the Sudanese government in Khartoum by placing already agreed upon targeted sanctions on regime officials, enforcing the already approved no-fly zone, and providing troops for and deploying the already authorized UN peacekeeping force to Darfur.
SO here’s what you can do – right now…
Get informed – go to the news page at www.savedarfur.org (http://www.savedarfur.org/newsroom/news/) and get the latest news on this situation.
Call the White House and demand action – 202-456-1111. Or go to www.savedarfur.org and send a message to Bush and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Call your congresscritters at 202-224-3121 and ask them to push for increased funding to keep the AU troops on the ground for another 6 months.
Show a film to your friends family – Inspire by showing movies such as Hotel Rwanda, Schindler’s List, Sometimes in April, Darfur Diaries, or the Killing Fields.
Invite a speaker – Raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur by emailing speakers@savedarfur.org to invite an expert to speak about this issue.
Generate media coverage – keep Sudan in the spotlight by writing letters to the editor, meeting with editorial boards, and encouraging community leaders to write op-ed pieces about Deafur.
Write an LTE to your local paper via http://www.democrats.org/page/content/partybuilderLTE/
Here’s a sample letter –
Dear Editor:
Every day, the 2.5 million peole chased from their homes in Darfur face the threat of starvation, disease and rape while the few lucky enough to remain in their homes risk displacement, torture and murder.
A UN peacekeeping force remains the only hope to bring peace to the region. Our world leaders must ramp up the pressure and demand that the peacekeepers are admitted immediately.
Sincerely,
Children are dying and getting raped. What are YOU going to do to help stop this slaughter?
