New Developments in Darfur

Dear Reader,

I want to share some important news from Khartoum. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson just released a joint statement with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir that, if implemented, would bring some immediate security and relief to the people of Darfur as well as provide a clear path forward to long-term peace in the region.


We asked Governor Richardson (pictured above) to travel to Sudan to discuss ways to secure peace in Darfur and to end the genocide. The Governor was accompanied by Save Darfur Senior International Coordinator Ambassador (ret.) Lawrence Rossin, Refugees International Executive Director Kenneth Bacon, and Public and International Law and Policy Group senior attorney Amjad Atallah. Since Sunday, when they arrived in Khartoum, Governor Richardson and the delegation have visited Darfur and participated in a variety of meetings with government officials, rebel leaders, humanitarian officials, AU commanders and UN officials.

The promises from President Bashir in this agreement are encouraging. They include commitments to:

A 60-day ceasefire with an international peace summit to be held before March 15, 2007.
Sudan's cooperation to work with the African Union and United Nations on the deployment of a hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur.
Ensuring "zero tolerance" policies for gender-based violence in Darfur.
Free access for humanitarian aid workers and journalists.

Click here to read the full joint statement and the press release.
http://www.savedarfur.org/newsroom/releases/cease_fire_agreement_
offers_a_moment_of_opportunity_for_political_settlemen/

Your concerns for the people of Darfur were voiced directly to President Bashir by Governor Richardson and Ambassador Rossin. We believe that today's agreement offers a promising step forward to end this four-year nightmare for the people of Darfur. By no means, however, has the genocide ended.

We call urgently upon Sudan, the United Nations, the African Union, and the Bush Administration to make these promises become a reality for the long-suffering people of Darfur.

We must demand that the international community take advantage of this dramatic progress. Your help in this effort will be vital in the months ahead.

Thank you for your contribution to these new developments.

Best regards,

David Rubenstein
Save Darfur Coalition

Also see: http://www.governor.state.nm.us/press.php?id=338

DARFUR. is happening right NOW.

More Websites about Genocide in Darfur:

http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/steidle/?gclid=CNfUmY3w1IkCFQVYSAodxBqG2g

http://www.genocideintervention.net/index.php

http://www.darfurscores.org/

http://www.standnow.org/

http://hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0504/

http://www.darfurisdying.com/

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3060&l=1#C2

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/sudan.cfm

There are so many sites dedicated to Darfur. Why is it important to check out these sites? Because you can't keep ignoring it. That's what we do. We see these things on TV but then we keep eating dinner with our families and talking about our days. But just across the ocean there are people who can't eat dinner with their families. And if they did, can you imagine what they would say about their days? Genocide happening for not the first time in the last hundred years. And what is so much worse than the slaying of a people is the world's indifference to it. It's not to say that people don't care. Look at all the websites, and I didn't even post half of the ones I found. Not to mention articles about Darfur. But nothing is happening. For example, if in one month alone only 10 people at every liberal arts university became interested and started to send letters to state representatives, to congressmen, to our UN representatives that would be a total of 460 people a month just with Ohio's liberal arts colleges. Think about how much of a difference your voice really can make.

There is an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond about voting. Debra runs for a position in the PTA. Raymond ofcourse, selfishly tries to foil her plot to win by voting for the guy who brought buffalo wings. Debra lost by one or two votes. Ofcourse, Raymond has a big fat mouth and gives himself away. Debra gets pissed and it's a night in the doghouse for Raymond. There are consequences for voting and not voting. Your voice makes a difference. Use it. Use it right. A choir isn't made up of one person. It's made up of a group of one persons. You are the one person that may be the tipping point in convincing someone in our government to actually make a difference.

I'll send my SOS to the world

MAKE SOME NOISE!

http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5175

http://www.savedarfur.org/section/take_action

And if you're going to make some noise you might as well make a BIG RACKET!