Urgent Alert from Save Darfur

Satellite images show hundreds of burned villages in Sudan
Tens of thousands homeless in Abyei, Darfur

Please read this message and take action to help stop the violence in Sudan.

We've taken two trips in the last few months to the disputed region of Abyei bordering North and South Sudan. Throughout this time, we've been sounding the alarm that Abyei was likely going to be a flash point for violence.

Sadly, our concerns are now becoming a reality.

Over the past week, villages in the Abyei region were burned to the ground, and tens of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes. In Darfur over the past few months, the UN has also documented aerial bombardment of civilians and burning of villages with tens of thousands of Sudanese driven from their homes.

We urge you to join us in acting before this violence leads to a full-scale resumption of war in Sudan.

Thanks to our Satellite Sentinel Project, we now have something we've never had before: satellite images that we can use to show the world, with indisputable proof, the systematic nature of violence targeted against civilian populations.

Last fall, when we traveled to the region and spoke with the citizens of Abyei, we heard the same message again and again: the people of Abyei were worried that fighting would erupt, and they asked for the United States and other countries to step in to help protect them.

Take a look at the Satellite Sentinel Project report, and join us in asking President Obama to take swift, bold action to help stop the violence — in Abyei, Darfur and all of Sudan.

Take action now.

Thank you for your help to support the people of Abyei and all of Sudan
at this critical moment.

Sincerely,

George Clooney and John
Prendergast

(From the Save Darfur Coalition, 3/9/2011)

China Supports Genocide in Darfur

Here is the latest from the Save Darfur Coalition:

With the referendum on southern independence only a few weeks away, time is running out to prevent a return to large-scale violence in Sudan and improve the deteriorating situation in Darfur.

Thankfully, the United States holds the Presidency of the U.N. Security Council during December. This is a critical opportunity for President Obama and Ambassador Susan Rice to rally world leaders to prevent violence in Sudan, but there is a big problem:

China.

China helped finance the genocide in Darfur through its oil purchases and supplied the genocidaires with weapons. Beijing has repeatedly used its influence to shield members of the regime in Khartoum from international pressure. Just last month China tried to bury a U.N. Report that says Chinese bullets were used in Darfur.

Tell Ambassador Rice to hold China accountable and demand that it join international efforts to promote peace in Sudan.

The U.N. Security Council was established to “ensure global peace and stability,” but China has not used its seat to help bring peace to Sudan. When given a choice to protect the leaders of the Sudanese regime or the people of Darfur, the Chinese have consistently sided with their business partners in Khartoum.

Ask Ambassador Rice to hold China accountable for its role in Darfur.

President Obama and Ambassador Rice have taken important and direct steps to prioritize Sudan on the global stage. But getting things done at the U.N. without China’s cooperation is nearly impossible. However, China does respond to pressure. China allowed the crisis in Darfur to be referred to the International Criminal Court, leading to arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and others. And China recently abstained on the reauthorization of the Darfur arms embargo. It’s not easy, but our activism can make a difference.

Send your message to Ambassador Rice: The U.S. must demand that China use its seat on the Security Council to promote peace in Sudan.

--Mark Lotwis

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"We Don't Have Real Representatives to Vote For"

Jerry Fowler and Mark Lotwis of the Save Darfur Coalition recently traveled to Sudan to observe the humanitarian situation in this war-torn country. Here are some snippets from their firsthand report, issued yesterday.

IDPs [Internally Displaced Persons] named security as their number one concern. Many complained of being subject to violence when leaving camps — not just women risking rape but both men and women being attacked when they go to the market or work in the cities. We often heard descriptions of the most recent attacks and that this violence was on the rise, not decline.

Despite Sudanese government claims that IDPs were returning to their villages in large numbers, we found little evidence of this. While there may be some returns and some seasonal migration to farm, IDPs said the main reason they cannot return home is because of a lack of security, and in some cases because other people were occupying the land they once lived on. One leader said, "When we can travel for two days without being attacked, we will go with no one telling us."

While distribution of food aid has been picked up by the World Food Programme and some new partners, provision of adequate water supplies appeared to be more
problematic, exacerbated by poor rains last year. At one camp, water was shut down at noon, and hand pumps were broken. In multiple camps we visited, people lined up for water, with rows and rows of empty jugs waiting to be filled. We saw unsanitary conditions around some pumps where spilled water runs off and mixes with animal waste — and children run around in bare feet.

We asked IDPs what they thought about the upcoming elections. The overwhelming majority of IDPs said they did not register and therefore will be disenfranchised in the election. Some said they didn't bother because "we don't have real representatives to vote for," while others feel that free political conditions do not exist. The ongoing state of emergency and level of violence leave doubts about a safe environment for candidates and voters in Darfur. When asked whether he feared for his life, one tribal leader told us, "I lost my family, I lost my country, I may lose my life." But he was resolved to carry on advocating for a just and lasting peace.

I hope all Americans of goodwill are just as resolved to continue working for peace in Darfur.

Darfur Update

This is a hopeful yet critical year for Sudan. The country's first presidential elections since 1986 will be held this coming April. Unfortunately, the conditions for a free and fair election do not exist in Sudan right now. Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is forbidding political opponents from organizing public rallies; arresting and imprisoning hundreds of dissidents; and arresting and beating journalists who report these incidents. Bashir is taking every possible measure to ensure his re-election against the wishes of the people of Sudan. Why? Because Bashir is a corrupt and murderous leader--and if a free and fair election were held in his country, Bashir would be voted out of office. During the past seven years, Arab Janjaweed militias--armed and funded by Bashir's regime--have carried out a systematic extermination program of the non-Arab inhabitants in Sudan's large western region of Darfur, killing upwards of 500,000 innocent people. This far exceeds the estimated 150,000 people killed by Saddam Hussein between 1983 and 1991. And while the International Criminal Court has filed charges of war crimes against Omar al-Bashir and issued an arrest warrant for his capture, the United States has taken little tangible action to help stop the genocide.

The Save Darfur Coalition, of which I am a part, is a not-for-profit political advocacy group that has been working to change that. The Coalition "is an alliance of over 190 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations whose mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of more than two million people in the Darfur region." Over the past few years, we have achieved several notable successes such as getting Fidelity (a major U.S.-based investment company) to divest from corporations that fund the mass murder, getting President Bush to uphold our commitment of troops for the UN-AU pracekeeping force in Darfur, getting the ICC to hold Bashir accoutable for his crimes, and getting all three 2008 U.S. presidential candidates to sign a statement pledging "unstinting resolve" to end the genocide in Darfur.

Our most notable success to date has been getting the U.S. government to formulate a comprehensive policy for Sudan that calls for a combination of pressures and incentives on the Bashir regime to stop the Darfuri genocide. The Obama administration released its Sudan Policy Review entitled "Sudan: A Critical Moment, A Comprehensive Approach" on October 19, 2009. But although this document contains many of the policy objectives we have been working for, the U.S. government has yet to back up its strong words with concrete actions. Our challenge now is to hold the U.S. to its officially proclaimed commitment to stop the genocide and save the people of Darfur.

The Save Darfur Coalition has urged me to forward the message below to as many people as possible. Please read and consider joining the Coalition--it's free--so that we can work to halt this unconscionable tragedy, the first genocide of the 21st century--the ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

--Justin

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Dear friend,

One year ago today Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. As he took office, he promised high-level leadership to bring peace to Darfur and all of Sudan.

Unfortunately, President Obama's strong words in the campaign have yet to be accompanied by the kind of decisive leadership we expected from the new President.

Millions of people in Darfur still live in camps with the ever-present threat of violence. All of the people of Sudan continue to live without even the most basic human rights. Now, indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir is preparing to steal the country's first election in 24 years.
We must not let this happen.

Tell President Obama we need his personal leadership to make sure the United States and the world do not to legitimize Omar al-Bashir's corrupt, genocidal regime.

Secretary of State Clinton took a small step forward when she recently called on Sudan "to suspend elements of the national security and public order laws that are incompatible with free and fair elections."

But her words still lack the support of the President himself, who has remained silent instead of calling out Khartoum for its lack of progress.

Sudanese security forces continue to harass and intimidate their political opponents. Violence and insecurity in Darfur will make voting difficult—if not impossible. The regime in Khartoum wants to use the upcoming election to tighten its grip on power and insulate its leadership from the reach of international justice.

We must act now. Send a message directly to President Obama and tell him that the United States must not recognize the results of an illegitimate election.

Thank you for your support and your activism.

Sincerely,

Mark Lotwis,
Save Darfur Coalition

Upcoming Elections in Sudan

Here is the latest from the Save Darfur Coalition:

Dear Justin,

Intimidation, torture, and violence. Hundreds of activists, opposition party leaders and journalists arrested and beaten.

Welcome to election season in Omar al-Bashir's Sudan.

Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years are scheduled for April 2010. The elections were intended to serve as a capstone to the democratic transformation of Sudan promised in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that was signed by North and South Sudan in 2005. Instead, none of the conditions for truly free and fair elections are in place.

Bashir's regime has failed to: ensure freedom of association, movement, assembly and speech; limit the broad powers of arbitrary arrest, detention, search and seizure; end press censorship; allow equal access for all political parties to media; implement mechanisms to prevent election related violence; and allow unrestricted access for both domestic and international observation teams.

Not only are brave Sudanese who call for greater freedom being violently suppressed, the current conditions in Darfur make credible elections there inconceivable. Random attacks on civilians continue, movement of UN peacekeepers is restricted, and millions of Darfuris who live in displacement camps worry that participation in the election will lead to denial of their right to return to their homes. Any national election that does not include Darfur cannot be viewed as legitimate.

So what is the benefit of elections for Bashir's genocidal regime? They are a means to give it a veneer of legitimacy.

And without scrutiny by the Obama administration and the international community, the elections will deliver the sort of legitimization that Bashir desires.

This is why it is critical for the U.S. government to shine a spotlight on the fact that the political freedom necessary for free and fair elections in Sudan does not exist. We need President Obama and our elected leaders to send a message to the world that they will not recognize the results of an illegitimate electoral process, and will not permit a fugitive of the International Criminal Court to legitimize his brutal dictatorship.

Over the coming months we will need your help to make sure that our leaders do not let the upcoming elections provide legitimacy to Bashir's government. We will be collecting signatures, organizing lobby days and local events, blogging, and raising awareness through the media and social networks.

The people of Sudan need our support. Spread the word to your friends and family and encourage them to learn more.

Sincerely,

Mark Lotwis
Save Darfur Coalition