US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, together with the Dutch UN Ambassador, today called an emergency international meeting on Darfur as part of a series of side meetings to the United Nations General Assembly opening session, according to
news reports. Attending the meeting, leaders of the Arab League, African Union, and 20 other nations.
In the meantime, a group of Darfuri survivors held a press conference at Rice's Manhattan hotel:
A group of Darfur-born exiles called Rice's efforts a good first step, but it also criticized the United States and other world powers for doing too little too late to stop a daily tide of killings and rapes in Darfur's ravaged villages and teeming refugee camps.
"Our call today is to the entire world ... to extend their hands to save these people," said Yahya Osman. "What is happening in Darfur is a silent genocide."
Other refugees at a press conference in Rice's Manhattan hotel described the deaths of cousins, uncles and other relatives at the hands of Sudanese government forces or the mounted Arab militiamen known as Janjaweed that they support.
The Sudanese government has turned to the Arab League for support in its ongoing refusal to allow either a UN or expanded African Union force into the region to end the violence and protect innocent civilians.
According to Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa in comments to reporters this week, "I really want to contribute to the creation of ... a quiet atmosphere, a working atmosphere. We have suffered at certain stages of this problem of either exaggeration or misinformation. We have a major problem in Darfur, but not all what you hear, not all the information circulated, are really accurate."
Sudanese President Al-Bashir continues to deny that there is a major humanitarian disaster in Darfur, claiming earlier this week that death rates there were no worse than anywhere else in Sudan. He has repeatedly said that he would not allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur under any circumstances.
One piece of good news this week out of the UN is that an agreement has been reached to allow the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to remain until the end of the year. They were originally scheduled to leave at the end of September. Under this temporary arrangement, the UN will provide materials and logistical support and the Arab League will provide some funding.
The current AMIS had been left to a largely witness-to-crimes-against-humanity role due to lack of equipment, low staffing numbers, and lack of funding. Most of the AMIS troops stay holed up in their barracks, without the fuel or numbers to venture out to protect the civilians rounded up by the Khartoum government into overrun camps. When they do receive fuel shipments, the janjuweed and government troops routinely siphon off the gas for their own purposes.
In a report from Reuters today:
U.N. human rights monitors on Friday accused Sudan's army of bombing villages in North Darfur, killing and injuring civilians, and forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes.
"People talk about this white plane and bombs being dropped out of the back of the plane. This is a recurrent feature of reports of attacks on villages," U.N. human rights spokesman Jose Luis Diaz told a briefing in Geneva.
"All indications are this kind of attack is continuing."
[
Note: picture by Brian Steidl taken in 2003 of a village in Western Darfur after a bombing and burning raid by government helicopters and the janjuweed]
According to the Reuters' article,
rape has become almost a cliche in parts of Darfur:
U.N. human rights monitors reported on Friday that sexual violence, which has been a horrific feature of the conflict, continues in South Darfur, particularly near camps for internally displaced people (IDP) near the town of Gereida.
"This has become almost a cliche, women go outside of IDP camps to collect firewood or engage in commerce and they become vulnerable to attacks by what are said to be military personnel or militia," [British Prime Minister Tony Blair] said.
The area is government-controlled and the perpetrators were in uniform, often on horseback, according to the monitors.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
* The Save Darfur Coalition has established a new tool on their website, to help people across this country raise awareness and band together to keep the White House and Congress focused on this issue. Go to savedarfur.org and find a local Save Darfur group near you.
* At the Genocide Intervention Network, you can sign up for email updates, participate in action alerts like the current one to participate in an international online discussion hosted by the Washington Post.
* Put pressure on your Members of Congress to pass meaningful legislation to help the victims of Darfus by going to Darfur Scores to see what they have done in the past, then write and call to urge them to make a difference now.
* Educate the progressive candidates on this issue by getting information to them on what is happening and what can be done. The resources for information include the sites already listed.
* Raise your voice in your community. Check out just a few of the many creative actions local groups have undertaken:
* The Pittsburg for Darfur Coalition turned out forty demonstrators to protest a speech by a Sudanese government official at a local university.
* The Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur was instrumental in introducing a bill to divest the state's public pension from companies supporting the Sudanese government.
* Save Darfur Washington State held a call-in day asking President Bush to appoint a high-level, special envoy for Sudan.
* Raise your voice at your school through STAND, Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, or Sudan Divestment Task Force, or Call To Action through the US Holocaust Memorial's Committee on Conscience.
* Raise your voice at your place of worship and help your congregation become part of the Save Darfur Congregational Network
When your grandchildren ask
what you did to stop the genocide in Darfur,
what will you say?