Groups Press Darfur Issue as U.S. Vote Nears
October 24, 2008 .. -->paging_filter-->
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 24 (OneWorld) - In the final days of the U.S. presidential campaign, Americans who want the United States to work harder to end the ongoing genocide in the Darfur province of Sudan are ramping up efforts to keep the issue in the national spotlight.
Buttons at a South Carolina rally in October 2007. © Genocide Intervention Network (flickr)A number of peace organizations, including Africa Action and the Save Darfur Coalition, are aiming to collect 1 million electronic and hardcopy postcards for the presidential candidates urging them to declare Darfur a "Day One" priority, if elected.
"We want to let whoever is the next president know this is something the American public is really concerned about and should not get lost in the shuffle of the financial crisis or other competing policy goals," said Michael Swigert of Africa Action.
"Politicians make promises all the time; our aim is to make sure this is a campaign promise the candidates won't be able to break," Swigert said.
Africa Action plans to hand the postcards to the next president in a public ceremony early next year.
In October's debates, John McCain and Barack Obama and their running mates all voiced interest in ending the genocide. McCain and Obama also signed a pledge in May promising their "unstinting resolve" to support peace and security in Darfur.
Africa Action believes the United States is uniquely positioned, as "the most powerful country in the world," to encourage international action to protect civilians in Darfur.
The United Nations agreed in 2007 to send peacekeepers to the region to bolster a beleaguered African Union force, but less than half of the 26,000 allocated troops have arrived, and the units are lacking in helicopters and other equipment because UN member countries have failed to provide them. There are also reports that the Sudanese government is restricting the peacekeepers' deployments.
Since February 2003, when widespread killing began in earnest, the war in the Texas-sized province of Darfur has not only claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, but has frightened 2.5 million refugees to flee their homes and live wherever they can -- many in camps in Darfur or the neighboring country of Chad.
The situation has been exacerbated by recent escalations in violence, which could interrupt food disbursements, according to the UN World Food Program. The Sudanese regime also expelled a number of aid groups that provide necessities to the region's displaced people.
Taking a completely different angle on its activism, Citizens for Global Solutions, a grassroots group that promotes U.S. engagement with other countries on a range of issues, is calling on the public's creativity to help keep attention on Darfur.
The group is holding a contest for flash animation, spoken word, or digital video pieces that focus on the world's continuing "duty to help the Sudanese people," according to the contest guidelines. The top prize is $2,000.
The group's 2004 contest winner, a senior in high school named John Cooney, had his short video on global warming, "Neglected Sky," picked up by the HBO-sponsored 2005 Media That Matters Film Festival, which he also won. The piece was aired by Bravo and put into DVD form for use in classrooms around the world. Cooney now has his own flash media company, FlashWiki.net.
"The contest not only generates innovative approaches to solving global issues, but it provides an opportunity for thousands of individuals to be thinking about this," said Don Kraus, the director of Citizens for Global Solutions.
Other groups are focusing on campaigns to cut off Sudan's arms supply.
The human rights advocacy group Amnesty International is pushing to expand the UN arms embargo on Sudan with a letter writing campaign that pressures U.S. Congress members to support a new UN ban. Amnesty says the current weapons ban, begun in 2004, has not prevented weapons such as Russian Mi-24 helicopters and Chadian small arms from making it into Darfur.
Darfur women and girls in a refugee camp. © Mark Knobil/UUSCSome 30 countries have violated the arms embargo by directly or indirectly selling arms to the Sudanese government, according to Human Rights First, another U.S.-based rights group. Twelve countries openly admit to violating the ban, including China, India, Iran, Kenya, and Russia, the group said.
By highlighting these 30 countries' complicity in the genocide, Human Rights First seeks to shame the governments into halting their arms sales to Sudan. Shame has been an ineffective tactic against Sudan's biggest arms supplier, however.
According to the Sudanese government's own accounts, China is Sudan's number one source of arms and money, the latter coming primarily via the sale of oil.
Peace activists had hoped the Olympics would shine a transformative spotlight on China's links to the genocide, but the rising superpower's relationship with the Sudanese government has not changed since the games.
An Ethnic and Environmental Conflict
Women draw water at one of the few wells in Darfur. © David Haberlah (flickr)The war in Darfur finds its roots in both ethnic and environmental strife.
With tension between farmers and nomads rising in the drought-prone region, resistance groups attacked government forces in early 2003, blaming the national government for neglecting the region economically and failing to protect villagers from attacks by nomadic groups.
Rather than sending in Sudanese armed forces, which included many members from Darfur, however, the government provided arms and other support to Arab "Janjaweed" militias, who began attacking locals of the same ethnic background as the rebels.
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the Sudanese government has repeatedly denied it is supporting the Janjaweed, who often rape, pillage, and burn entire villages.
OneWorld.net: Perspectives Magazine - Preventing Genocide
OneWorld.net: Latest News, Groups Working on Sudan