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

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Act now: send a petition to Commission on Presidential Debates re: 3rd US Presidential Debate Send a Petition to the Commission on Presidential Debates Dear Darfur Activist,   The first presidential debate on September 26 was intended to focus exclusively on foreign policy issues, but the economy took up more than a third of the debate time.    Please help get these 40 minutes back in the third debate so that specific questions about the Darfur genocide, Sudan policy, genocide, global poverty and the vast array of problems affecting a majority of the global community are addressed! The Commission on Presidential Debates, together with the two presidential candidates, should now act quickly to rectify this eleventh hour change in the agreed terms for the debate. Ask the Commission today that they adjust the agenda for the third debate by allocating 40 minutes for a discussion on international policy concerns such as genocide, poverty, disease and climate change. Take Action NOW at: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5126/t/2002/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=557  ------------------------ You can also help drive readers to this post and increase its visibility on the site: 1. E-Mail Lists: Send a short note with a link to any lists you're on -- whether social organizations, extracurricular groups, or even just your typical family/friends list. Encourage them to comment. Encourage your friends to share it as well. 2. Facebook/MySpace: Share your post via Facebook or MySpace. Facebook makes it especially easy to share links through what they call "Posted Items." Click here: http://www.facebook.com/posted.php and paste your permalink into the box titled Post a Link. If all goes well, your profile will say that you've "shared a blog post."   Click here to read a related Huffington Post blog about the first debate: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-morgan-and-jirair-ratevosian/first-presidential-debate_b_130136.html  Thank you, and please tell a friend! SF Bay Area Darfur Coalition www.darfursf.org

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Welsh mum tells of role leading Oxfam in Darfur Sep 18 2008 WalesOnline A MOTHER from Wales yesterday spoke publicly for the first time about her role as head of one of the world's biggest humanitarian relief efforts. Auriol Miller, 37, is Country Director for Oxfam GB and Sudan. Her role, which involved moving her family to war-torn Sudan when baby daughter Corinna was just 10 months old, involves regular visits to crisis-hit Darfur, as well as managing 500 staff and an annual aid budget of £10m. Oxfam's work includes daily providing clean water and sanitation for more than 400,000 refugees in Darfur. Auriol, whose Welsh grandmother Barbara Brooke inspired her to buy a permanent base for her family in Cardiff, also takes overall responsibility for all of Oxfam's liaison and representation with and to the Northern Sudan government. She took up her post in the Islamic country last September but has chosen to publicise her role now as the dangers faced by aid workers have increased considerably to highlight both Oxfam's ongoing work in the area – and the increasing dangers faced by aid workers in Northern Sudan. United Nations figures reveal that in the past year more than 40 drivers of UN and other non-governmental organisation's aid vehicles have gone missing in the region. So far this year 11 humanitarian aid workers have been killed, and there were more attacks on humanitarian workers in the first six months of 2008 than there were in all of 2007. The hybrid African Union/ United Nations peace-keeping organisation Unamid has warned international governments repeatedly that it has less than half the manpower it needs with just 10,000 personnel to implement the Darfur Peace Agreement. "We desperately need a cessation of hostilities," Auriol told the Western Mail. "We need aid to be able to get in. And Unamid needs to be properly resourced to do its job effectively. "It needs 26,000 on the ground, and they will all need water, food and accommodation, all of which must be built from scratch in the desert after a very dangerous 2,000km journey from Port Sudan. "I don't take Corinna to Darfur, because it is too dangerous," said Auriol, whose pioneering work can take her away from the family's rented home in Khartoum for anything up to 10 days at a time. "And she doesn't come to the east with me either. Quite apart from the safety issue, there'd be nothing for her to do out in the field anyway." Instead husband Peter, 37, a chartered accountant, has taken a career break to become full-time dadto Corinna, while Auriol works to build on the fragile peace that was achieved by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. "At home in Khartoum, everything's set up for Corinna," said Auriol, who has worked in such danger zones as the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi "where you could see the tracer bullets flying overhead most nights". But even the relative safety of Khartoum has not proved immune to danger. In May fighters of the Justice and Equality Movement attacked the city – the first attack on Sudan's capital in this conflict. "It's nothing that Peter and I have not seen before," said Auriol, who gave birth to Corinna in Cardiff in November 2006. "But obviously we have Corinna now, and it is very different, as her safety and well-being must come first." But while Corinna, who will celebrate her second birthday in Khartoum this November, is her over-riding personal priority, Auriol's 500 dedicated staff are her professional concern. "Our staff are mostly Sudanese," said Auriol, who worked for Oxfam Cymru before taking up her current post last September. "A lot of people have perception that it's white, Western expats flying overseas and helping out and that really isn't the case. "To do my job I have to try to maintain a certain amount of distance. But you never get used to it when you talk to people and hear what they have been through. "When you visit the camps and talk to people and find out why they're there and what they've been through and there's somebody sitting there with a child the same age as my child – I find that very difficult. It's an accident of birth that they are where they are, and I am where I am. "But I am not a front-line humanitarian worker any more. For me the real heroes are the public health promotion team, who work with families every day in very harsh environments. They leave their families in the morning and go back to them at night – but anything could happen in between." The humanitarian crisis in Darfur and eastern Chad is one of the largest in the world. Since violence between the government and rebels in Darfur started in 2003, 2.5 million people have fled their homes. Many will have seen family killed, abducted or sexually assaulted and their villages burned. Ongoing violence continues to cause people to flee. For more information go to www.oxfam.org.uk/ oxfam_in_action/emergencies/ darfur_chad

 

Ethiopia Food Crisis Appeal

Help us provide emergency food relief, improve access to safe water and promote hygiene education to those in need in Ethiopia. Please donate now:

Ethiopia Food Crisis Appeal

Lack of access to food and clean water in Ethiopia has put at risk the health of thousands of people, particularly children under five, the elderly, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers.

Drought and escalating food prices have forced vulnerable households to sell their livestock and agricultural tools at throw-away prices in order to buy food. The number of people needing emergency assistance is already high and could rise considerably in the coming months.

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Darfur officials withdraw in protest at camp raid

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Aiming to raise money for Save The Children's ongoing aid work, Arts Call For Darfur was launched last December. This exhibition of work donated by Welsh and Sudanese artists will be auctioned in October, but prints of many of the pieces are available to buy now.

The forlorn first-floor gallery space of The Old Library doesn't really show off the work to best advantage, but there are some gems in a collection that varies in quality as well as style. Liz McKernan's fluid nude drawings are appealing in their simplicity, and David Knight's study of a contemplative couple, French Throw II, has a lovely, luminous quality.

Some big Welsh names also weigh in. There's covetable work from Iwan Bala, Sue Williams and Charles Byrd, whose two untitled geometrical abstracts are as glossy and brightly coloured as a box of boiled sweets.

Until Sep 10, The Old Library, Trinity Street, Cardiff. Tue to Sat 9am to 4.30pm, free. Tel: 029 2087 3196. www.artscallfordarfur.org

Mia Farrow shows alternative 'Darfur Olympics'

 

Mia Farrow shows alternative 'Darfur Olympics'

1 hour ago

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — U.S. actress-activist Mia Farrow aired an "alternative" Olympic opening ceremony in a Web cast Friday, showing Darfur refugees in the barren deserts of eastern Chad playing sports on sandy fields.

The Web cast coincided with a lavish opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics. The 2 1/2-minute video is part of a campaign by Farrow and other Darfur activists to pressure China into using its leverage in Sudan to bring an end to the five-year conflict.

In the Web cast, Farrow and a child walk into a sandstorm as she holds an extinguished torch. A young Sudanese boy sings: "Sudan is my country. Sudan is the country of my grandmother and grandfather. ... Sudan will always be my home."

Human rights groups, including Farrow's Dream for Darfur, have been using the Beijing Olympics to highlight accusations that China's close ties to the Sudanese government are helping fuel the bloodshed in Darfur, where the U.N. says up to 300,000 people have been killed.

China buys nearly two-thirds of Sudan's oil and is believed to provide Sudan with most of its small arms, many of which human rights groups say end up being used in Sudan's western region of Darfur. Sudan and China deny the charges, but Beijing has resisted tough U.N. Security Council action against Sudan over the conflict.

Each day during the first week of the Beijing games, Farrow plans to post new Web casts with "voices from the camps" in Chad, including interviews with women and children. About 250,000 Darfurians live in the refugee camps in Chad. Another nearly 2.5 million people displaced by the fighting remain in Darfur.

Six artists, including REM, Talib Kweli and The Jones Street Boys, have donated about 20 minutes of recorded concerts that are also posted on Farrow's Web site as part of the alternative ceremony.

Farrow's Dream for Darfur group has called the Olympics the "Genocide Games." China barred a Dream for Darfur member from entering the country. The activist had planned to take the video made by Farrow to reporters in China, where the Web site has been blocked.

• The site of Farrow's Web cast: http://www.darfurolympics.org

Hosted By: Michigan Darfur Coalition & Jam for Sudan
When: 05 Aug 2008, 17:00
Where Max & Erma's
250 Merrill St.
Birmingham, Michigan|23 48009
United States
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Michigan Darfur Coalition & Jam for Sudan

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SUDAN: MSF seeks assurances before returning to North Darfur

..tr>..table>NAIROBI, 4 August 2008 (IRIN) - The staff of the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who were evacuated from two locations in the western Sudanese state of North Darfur, may return to the area if they are assured improved security on the ground, a spokeswoman said.

"It is quite an insecure area to work in," Susan Sandars told IRIN. "We are talking to all parties in the area to seek more clarity on the situation before we can consider returning."

MSF was forced to evacuate staff from Tawila and Shangil Tobaya after several violent assaults, including two in one week, when armed men entered the MSF compounds at night. They threatened staff with guns and stole money, including the salaries of local staff, and other valuables.

The departure of the aid workers has left at least 65,000 people without medical assistance. Most are internally displaced.

"After these violent attacks, we have had to suspend activities and evacuate all our staff from Tawila and Shangil Tobaya," said Mónica Camacho, MSF head of mission in Darfur. "It is impossible for our teams to work and provide medical aid without a minimum guarantee of security and respect for humanitarian work."

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes condemned the attacks.

"The armed opposition groups in Darfur have a clear obligation to guarantee the personal and physical security of relief workers and access to vulnerable populations," he said in a statement. "The Sudanese government has a responsibility to ensure security throughout their territory."

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 180 humanitarian vehicles have been hijacked in Darfur this year, 145 aid workers kidnapped and nine killed.

"We are continuing to work in other areas of Darfur," Sandars said on 4 August. "But when incidents like this happen, our immediate response is to assess the safety of our staff."

In June, humanitarian workers said the situation for aid agencies in Darfur had deteriorated, reducing their ability to reach people in need to an 18-month low.

"When it comes to hijackings, compound invasions, office invasions, attacks on humanitarians, abduction of humanitarians - in the first six months of this year the statistics are the same as for all of last year," Mike McDonagh, head of OCHA Sudan, said.

 

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Photo: MSF

MSF has had to suspend its suspend activities and evacuate staff from Tawila and Shangil Tobaya in nothern Darfur

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peacekeepers 'close to failing'.. --> end article-header -->