Interfaith agencies mobilize for Darfur
By Gary Band
The Jewish Advocate
Refugees in Darfur.Congressman Mike Capuano 'looks evil in the face' in visit to Sudan
Members of the Jewish and interfaith community in Boston and around the country have mobilized their numbers in support of the people of Darfur. A crowd expected in the thousands will gather in front of the U.S. Capitol on April 30 for a "Stop the Genocide" rally to compel deployment of a U.N. force to the region to protect civilians.
The afternoon rally is part of the "Million Voices for Darfur" campaign to generate one million postcards for delivery to President Bush, who recently pledged to push for additional U.N. and NATO help to protect the people of Darfur. Just over half a million postcards have been signed and sent so far.
Ruth Messin-ger, executive director of the American Jewish World Service in New York and a lead member of the Save Darfur Coalition, said the response from the Jewish community around the country has been extraordinary.
"While everyone should be rallied to stop this genocide, Jews know better than anyone the price of silence from the international community," said Messinger.
Nancy Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, echoed this view: "We said 'never again,' and it's happening again," she said.
JCRC is one of nearly 40 organizations that comprise the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur – including CJP, the Anti-Defamation League, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization and the Black Ministerial Alliance – encouraging people to attend the rally. They join the more than 150 faith and human rights organizations around the country, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Amnesty International and the United States Holocaust Museum, organizing people to attend the rally.
Darfur, in the Western part of Sudan, is inhabited by approximately six million people, generally constituting two distinct groups: non-Arab black Africans – the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa – and Arab tribes collectively termed Baggara (also black by the standards of most non-Africans) who settled the region from about the 13th century onwards. Both groups are Muslims.
Beginning in February 2003, the conflict arose when two local rebel groups – the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement – accused the government of oppressing non-Arabs in favor of Arabs. They attacked government forces and installations, demanding that the Sudanese government stop arming the Janjaweed militias in Darfur and focus instead on trying to develop the region.
The government responded with an aerial bombardment campaign supporting ground attacks by the Janjaweed against the "black" communities. Since then, the government-backed militia has been waging a campaign of murder, rape, starvation and displacement against these communities of African tribal farmers.
According to Congressman Mike Capuano (D-Mass.), a co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Sudan who returned from a Congressional delegation to the region along in February: "In the last three years, over 400,000 innocent civilians have been murdered in Darfur and over two million more have been displaced. Congress and President Bush have correctly characterized the horrific acts taking place as genocide. I believe that the United States has a moral obligation to do everything possible to stem the tide of unspeakable violence."
While in Sudan, Capuano met with government officials in Khartoum, including Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha. He expressed his outrage at the actions of the Sudanese government toward their own citizens and demanded that the government stop the violence in Darfur. During the meeting, Vice President Taha admitted that his government provided funding to the Janjaweed to wage war on the people of Darfur.
"When you have an opportunity to look evil in the face, you should," Capuano told the Advocate. "Some people think you should ignore it; I don't."
He also recently met with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton to urge that U.N. peacekeeping forces be sent into Darfur.
"More troops, with a mandate to protect civilians, are desperately needed right now," he said.
Only around 7,500 African Union troops are now on the ground in an area the size of Texas, and an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 Janjaweed militiamen continue to terrorize civilians. Reports suggest that a force of 20,000 troops would be sufficient to protect civilians.
"The United Nations was created in the aftermath of genocide by countries determined to prevent it from happening again," Capuano said. "Time is running out for the people of Darfur."
