- Just three dollars provides firewood for one Sudanese woman who would otherwise risk her life in the desert.
- Just five dollars grants radio access to one Burmese family, who could be forewarned and flee their village before it is attacked.
It's tragic that so many suffer, but worse that so few care. You can make a difference. Yes, you.]]>http://www.lcdarfurcoalition.org/pblog/index.php?entry=entry081114-1143342008-11-14T00:00:00Z2008-11-14T00:00:00ZJustice and Peace in Sudanenoughproject.org
In a welcome step, today the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Darfur.
In a report released today, ENOUGH Executive Director John Norris, Co-Chair John Prendergast, and Research Associate David Sullivan argue that the call to arrest Bashir is not only based on sound evidence, but that it can be a step forward in the path to secure peace. "The status quo in Sudan is one of the deadliest in the world. Until there is a consequence for the commission of genocide, it will continue. This action introduces a cost, finally, into the equation," says Prendergast. Using examples of past indictments of war criminals Slobodan Milosevic during the 1999 Kosovo conflict, and of Charles Taylor in 2003 in Liberia, the report argues that introducing accountability for crimes against humanity can break the cycle of impunity and improve prospects for peace in seemingly intractable conflicts. Norris notes "with more than 300,000 dead and millions displaced in Darfur, it is shocking that these charges are even remotely controversial. President Bashir has orchestrated the Darfur tragedy from day one, and any efforts to sweep his actions under the rug are both shameful and counterproductive."
In a separate release, ENOUGH provides a rundown of some of Bashir's past comments and behavior. From hosting Osama bin Laden to engineering a famine in southern Sudan that killed hundreds of thousands, Bashir's criminal track record extends well beyond Darfur, and leaves little question as to why the prosecutor is moving forward with charges.
The July 18 update from the Guardian, "Sudanese 'lost boy' finds joy on US Olympic track team," is here.]]>http://www.lcdarfurcoalition.org/pblog/index.php?entry=entry080722-1522242008-07-22T00:00:00Z2008-07-22T00:00:00ZSnickers is safe, but what of children in peril? Snickers the dog is safe in Las Vegas, you’ll be happy to know. The 11-month-old cocker spaniel was aboard his owners’ 48-foot sailboat in December when it ran aground on Fanning Island, a tiny atoll that’s part of the South Pacific nation of Kiribati.
After two weeks on Fanning, Snickers’ owners hopped on a cargo vessel and made it back to civilization in California. Tragically, the ship’s rules prohibited bringing animals on board. They left the pup behind.
Then began the heroic effort to save Snickers. Read the rest of the story here.]]>http://www.lcdarfurcoalition.org/pblog/index.php?entry=entry080714-1357182008-07-14T00:00:00Z2008-07-14T00:00:00ZMy New Olympic Dream By Joey Cheek washingtonpost.com Sunday, May 25, 2008; Page B01
I'd actually imagined what it would be like, which is terrible. You're never supposed to plan on winning.
But there I was, the gold medalist in the 500-meter speed skating event at the 2006 winter Olympics in Turin. And with the win came the right to 10 minutes, give or take, at a microphone in front of 60-odd cameras, tape recorders and sports reporters who were waiting to shout in my face: "How does it feel to win?" (It's a pretty short answer, actually: "Good.")
Except, I wanted to talk about something different. "I know you guys all want to do sweet stories about Hallmark and chocolates and butterflies and all that," I said, stepping to the microphone. "But I have a pretty unique experience and a pretty unique opportunity here. So I'm going to take advantage of it while I can."
And then I announced that I was going to donate my winnings from the U.S. Olympic Committee -- $25,000 for that 500-meter victory and another $15,000 when I won the silver in the 1,000 meters a few days later -- to Darfurian refugees in Chad. Though I was just beginning to learn about the conflict in Darfur in February 2006, I knew that more than 60,000 children from Darfur had been displaced in the course of nearly three years of violence and that my donation to the Right to Play Foundation might help send them some small relief.
I was also just beginning to learn what it meant to be engaged with what's happening in Darfur -- a deliberate campaign of atrocities that the U.S. government has called a genocide, launched by the regime in Khartoum and an allied militia known as the Janjaweed -- and what it means to be on an international stage as an Olympian. Now, more than two years after I won my medals in Turin, I'm watching those issues collide as the world prepares for the Olympics in Beijing.
I'm not competing this summer, but I am urging others to think about Darfur and about China's relationship with Sudan. China buys much of Sudan's annual oil output and sells arms to Sudan, helping prop up the government in Khartoum. China is also the genocidal regime's key defender at the United Nations, helping weaken Security Council resolutions that might stem the violence.
I sincerely hope that the newest Olympic champions not only show graciousness toward their Chinese hosts, but also issue a stern call for action in Darfur. With its significant ties to Sudan, China is one of the countries in the world best positioned to do more to stop the killing in Darfur, and it is the responsibility of athletes competing there this summer to say that -- respectfully yet forcefully -- even as they focus on their own athletic accomplishments.
Read the rest of Joey Cheek's article here. ]]>http://www.lcdarfurcoalition.org/pblog/index.php?entry=entry080530-2045362008-05-31T00:00:00Z2008-05-31T00:00:00ZNot on my watch, but whose? Headline: Not on my watch, but whose?
Date: May 19, 2008
"I GLANCED up the street and, glory hallelujah, the lawn sign that had been on my neighbor's front yard for the last two years was gone. I walk my dog in that direction at least once a day and had often chosen a different route just to avoid seeing the green and white announcement: Not on Our Watch."
Click here for rest of article]]>http://www.lcdarfurcoalition.org/pblog/index.php?entry=entry080530-2039102008-05-31T00:00:00Z2008-05-31T00:00:00ZBy EDITH M. LEDERERWednesday, April 23, 2008; 1:30 AM
UNITED NATIONS -- The conflict in Darfur is deteriorating, with full deployment of a new peacekeeping force delayed until 2009 and no prospect of a political settlement for a war that has killed perhaps 300,000 people in five years, U.N. officials said Tuesday.
In grim reports to the Security Council, the United Nations aid chief and the representative of the peacekeeping mission said suffering in the Sudanese region is worsening. Tens of thousands more have been uprooted from their homes and food rations to the needy are about to be cut in half, they said.
"We continue to see the goal posts receding, to the point where peace in Darfur seems further away today than ever," said John Holmes, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
The conflict began in early 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against Sudan's Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination. Many of the worst atrocities in the war have been blamed on the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads allied with the government.
A joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force took over duties in Darfur in January from a beleaguered 7,000-man AU mission. But only about 9,000 soldiers and police officers of the authorized 26,000 have deployed.
"We are late and we are trying to speed up the deployment of this mission, and we facing many obstacles," said the U.N.-AU force's envoy, Rodolphe Adada. "But eventually, with the help of some donors, we could be in a position to achieve maybe 80 percent of the force by the end of this year."
The mission faces major problems in putting troops into a very hostile environment, Adada said. It still lacks five critical capabilities to become operational _ attack helicopters, surveillance aircraft, transport helicopters, military engineers and logistical support.
Holmes said further progress in deploying the joint peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID, would help protect civilians and possibly humanitarian convoys.
"But only an end to all violence and concrete steps towards a political settlement will make the fundamental difference needed, as the rebel movements themselves above all need to recognize," Holmes said. "Otherwise the reality is that the people of Darfur face a continued steady deterioration of their conditions of life and their chances of lasting recovery."
The U.N. and AU have tried for months to open new peace talks between Sudan and rebel groups following the failure of a 2005 agreement to stem violence. But most rebel chiefs are boycotting the negotiations, and security in Darfur has further deteriorated in recent months.
Adada told the council that "unfortunately, it is commonly understood today in Darfur that peace is not at all attractive _ neither economically nor politically."
Darfur's main rebel chief said Tuesday he told Security Council representatives last month that no peace talks can be held until security is restored.
"Wrong negotiations will only complicate the matter and prolong the suffering of the people of Darfur," Abdulwahid Elnur, head of the Sudan Liberation Movement, told The Associated Press during an interview in Paris, where he lives in exile.
When former U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland brought the Darfur conflict to the Security Council's attention in April 2004, he said approximately 750,000 people were in danger.
Today, Holmes told the council, "of Darfur's estimated 6 million people, some 4.27 million have now been seriously affected by the conflict."
He said nearly many of them have had to flee their homes _ some 2.45 million people are sheltering elsewhere in Sudan and 260,000 more in neighboring countries. Some 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee just this year, Holmes said. Some 60,000 of them were displaced in West Darfur, which has seen an upsurge in violence.
"Those in the camps feel helpless and voiceless," Holmes said. "The fear of never being able to return to their areas of origin, and the pressure by government authorities to return when conditions are clearly not right, lead to increasing tension, polarization, politicization and even militarization."
The U.N. World Food Program announced last week that it will have to halve the amount of food provided to Darfur's needy next month because humanitarian convoys are being attacked. The cut "could not come at a worse time ... as the rainy season approaches," Holmes said.
Egeland, the former U.N. humanitarian chief, estimated in 2006 that 200,000 people had lost their lives because of the conflict, from violence, disease and malnutrition. He said this was based on an independent mortality survey released in March 2005 by the U.N. World Health Organization.
"That figure must be much higher now, perhaps half as much again," Holmes said Tuesday.
Sudanese Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed countered that "in our own calculations, the total number does not exceed 10,000."
He said his government counts only people killed in fighting, saying there are no dead from malnutrition and starvation "because in Darfur there is no epidemics, no starvations."
"The exaggerated number given is to serve political ends," Mohamed said. "It is only to give the impression that the government is not doing much in the peacekeeping to save its own people."
Queried by reporters, Holmes said the estimate of 300,000 dead "is not a very scientifically based figure" because there have been no new mortality studies in Darfur, but "it's a reasonable extrapolation."
"What I'm saying is if that figure of 200,000 was anything like right in 2006, then that figure must be much higher now," he said.
Egeland told AP last month that he estimated the toll had risen to around 400,000.
South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, the current Security Council president, said he was especially concerned that "there's absolutely nothing (moving) on the political process."
Asked if the council consider sanctions against those obstructing peace efforts, Kumalo said: "Well, the people who are obstructing the peace process are sitting in the nice capitals of Europe, so what can we do? And Europe is represented in the council."
He was clearly referring to Elnur, the rebel chief living in Paris.
Sudan's ambassador said one message came through "loud and clear" from Tuesday's meeting.
"We should give priority again to the peace process, because even peacekeeping with the maximum number is not a substitute to the political process," Mohamed said.
Western officials have blamed Sudan's government for the delay in deploying peacekeepers and key military equipment. Sudan denies that, but it has vetoed troop contributions from some non-African or non-Muslim nations.
"Contributors have to come from the whole world. It's the only guarantee that the force works on the ground, with neutrality," Elnur told AP. ]]>http://www.lcdarfurcoalition.org/pblog/index.php?entry=entry080423-2028012008-04-24T00:00:00Z2008-04-24T00:00:00ZThe Torch and Freedom Published: April 9, 2008
After facing major protests in London and Paris as the Olympic torch made stops on its journey to Beijing, the Chinese government is said to be looking for a public relations firm to patch up China’s image before the 2008 Games in August. In the spirit of the Olympic ideals, we are prepared to help China — free of charge.
Here’s what you do: Stop arresting dissidents. Stop spreading lies about the Dalai Lama, and start talking to him about greater religious and cultural freedoms for Tibet. Stop being an enabler to Sudan in its genocide in Darfur. In other words, start delivering on the pledge you made to the International Olympic Committee to respect human rights — which, by the way, include the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly.
It is sadly typical of authoritarian regimes to presume that huge protests of the sort that have accompanied the Olympic torch are provocations instigated by devious foreign foes. It was the same when the United States and several other Western countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Since the Kremlin suppressed all dissent, it was beyond the ken of Soviet leaders to imagine that their actions could actually infuriate people and that they would then act on their outrage.
Just so, the Communist authorities in China have been fanning nationalist resentments among their citizens with claims that protests against their repressive policies are staged by hostile foreign forces bent on ruining China’s grand Olympic party. The popular anger then makes it easier for the regime to arrest dissidents, stifle the news media and blame a “Dalai Lama clique” abroad for the troubles in Tibet.
Since the Chinese government does not hesitate to whip up “spontaneous demonstrations” in favor of its policies, it’s not a stretch for it to presume that foreign “enemies” are doing the same along the route of the torch. Thus, the pathetic presumption that a P.R. firm can make the protesters go away. It can’t and won’t.
Nobody expected China to democratize overnight, and, given the country’s mighty economic power, nobody really wants to antagonize Beijing. But a nation that applies to host the Olympic Games also must demonstrate that it is worthy of the honor. China has only itself to blame for messing up its coming-out party. ]]>http://www.lcdarfurcoalition.org/pblog/index.php?entry=entry080409-2029512008-04-10T00:00:00Z2008-04-10T00:00:00Z