Protestors around the world plead for intervention in Darfur
-18/09/06
Peace campaigner
Protestors around the world plead for intervention in Darfur
-18/09/06
Peace campaigners around the world held demonstrations on Sunday to highlight the war in Darfur, the western Sudan region where tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million left homeless.
In London, Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders delivered a plea and said prayers outside the residence of Prime Minister Tony Blair, and demonstrators rallied outside the Sudanese Embassy.
Demonstrators wore blue hats similar to those of UN peacekeeping forces symbolising the urgent need to protect the people of Darfur.
Tony Blair has said he will propose an incentive package for Sudan to accept the troops as part of an initiative to end the crisis.
In New York, a Central Park crowd estimated by organizers at 30,000 and by the police at 20,000 demanded that the United States government press the Sudanese to stop the killings and displacements in Darfur and to allow United Nations peacekeepers to enter the country, which Sudan has refused to do.
ìThe world must act and it must do so now because time is not on our side,î said former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.
Around East Africa, a string of protests and other events were organized to draw attention to western Sudan. In Rwanda ó the scene of a 1994 genocide that some have evoked in comparison with the Darfur crisis ó survivors of the slaughter that killed 800,000 people called for action.
ìWhen I think of the people in Darfur today, it makes me sick to the stomach because I know what itís like to watch your protectors walk away, and I know the fear of waiting for help that never comes,î said one survivor, Didier Sagashya.
Steve Hucklesby, Methodist Secretary for International Affairs, said: ìViolence in Darfur has created one of the worst humanitarian disasters today, with over 200,000 people killed and millions displaced.î
He continued: ìWe should not let the challenges of military intervention in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East cause us to fall shy of intervention in Sudan. Darfur is a different situation and an effective peacekeeping force could transform the situation.î
The western region of Sudan bordering Chad has been plagued by political and ethnic violence since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government.
A new estimate of the number of people killed in Darfur published last week put the toll at 200,000 or more. The displacement of more than two million people has created one of the worldís worst humanitarian crises.
Western leaders, some African presidents and aid groups have been pressing President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to accept a United Nations resolution to deploy more than 20,000 peacekeepers in Darfur.
The mandate for the current 7,000 poorly equipped African Union troops expires on Sept. 30. Sudan has said the troops would be allowed to extend their mission only if they remained under African Union control.
There is a United Nations meeting on Darfur in New York this week, which opens the way for further talks, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa said on Sunday after talks with the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan.
[Also on Ekklesia: Campaigners gear up for Global Day for Darfur 14/09/06; Churches call for decisive Darfur peacekeeping action 23/08/06; Aid agencies seek an end to tragic Darfur violence 20/07/06; Darfur development workers kidnapped as situation worsens; Churches urge Sudan government to end hostilities; Global appeal to churches on fragile Sudan peace process; Christian aid partners address UN over Sudan; Catholic aid agency appeals to PM over Sudan; Protests as Egypt vows to expel hundreds of Sudanese refugees; Christian aid agencies unite for Sudan; Christians arrested during Washington protest over Sudan]
Protestors around the world plead for intervention in Darfur
-18/09/06
Peace campaigners around the world held demonstrations on Sunday to highlight the war in Darfur, the western Sudan region where tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million left homeless.
In London, Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders delivered a plea and said prayers outside the residence of Prime Minister Tony Blair, and demonstrators rallied outside the Sudanese Embassy.
Demonstrators wore blue hats similar to those of UN peacekeeping forces symbolising the urgent need to protect the people of Darfur.
Tony Blair has said he will propose an incentive package for Sudan to accept the troops as part of an initiative to end the crisis.
In New York, a Central Park crowd estimated by organizers at 30,000 and by the police at 20,000 demanded that the United States government press the Sudanese to stop the killings and displacements in Darfur and to allow United Nations peacekeepers to enter the country, which Sudan has refused to do.
ìThe world must act and it must do so now because time is not on our side,î said former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.
Around East Africa, a string of protests and other events were organized to draw attention to western Sudan. In Rwanda ó the scene of a 1994 genocide that some have evoked in comparison with the Darfur crisis ó survivors of the slaughter that killed 800,000 people called for action.
ìWhen I think of the people in Darfur today, it makes me sick to the stomach because I know what itís like to watch your protectors walk away, and I know the fear of waiting for help that never comes,î said one survivor, Didier Sagashya.
Steve Hucklesby, Methodist Secretary for International Affairs, said: ìViolence in Darfur has created one of the worst humanitarian disasters today, with over 200,000 people killed and millions displaced.î
He continued: ìWe should not let the challenges of military intervention in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East cause us to fall shy of intervention in Sudan. Darfur is a different situation and an effective peacekeeping force could transform the situation.î
The western region of Sudan bordering Chad has been plagued by political and ethnic violence since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government.
A new estimate of the number of people killed in Darfur published last week put the toll at 200,000 or more. The displacement of more than two million people has created one of the worldís worst humanitarian crises.
Western leaders, some African presidents and aid groups have been pressing President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to accept a United Nations resolution to deploy more than 20,000 peacekeepers in Darfur.
The mandate for the current 7,000 poorly equipped African Union troops expires on Sept. 30. Sudan has said the troops would be allowed to extend their mission only if they remained under African Union control.
There is a United Nations meeting on Darfur in New York this week, which opens the way for further talks, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa said on Sunday after talks with the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan.
[Also on Ekklesia: Campaigners gear up for Global Day for Darfur 14/09/06; Churches call for decisive Darfur peacekeeping action 23/08/06; Aid agencies seek an end to tragic Darfur violence 20/07/06; Darfur development workers kidnapped as situation worsens; Churches urge Sudan government to end hostilities; Global appeal to churches on fragile Sudan peace process; Christian aid partners address UN over Sudan; Catholic aid agency appeals to PM over Sudan; Protests as Egypt vows to expel hundreds of Sudanese refugees; Christian aid agencies unite for Sudan; Christians arrested during Washington protest over Sudan]