Fw: Stop Continuing Genocide in Sudan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kathy Guthrie"
To: "Miriam Vieni"
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 8:57 AM
Subject: FCNL: Stop Continuing Genocide in Sudan

STOP CONTINUING GENOCIDE IN SUDAN

"The world is failing Darfur."

That's the message from the United Nations, from humanitarian
organizations, and from Africa about the unfolding crisis in the Darfur
region of Sudan, East Africa. While world attention has focused on the
tsunami disaster and the war in Iraq, and the United States has been
distracted by the debate about Social Security, the situation on the
ground in Darfur has grown worse in the last few months.

Quakers and others returning from that region report that, although an
African Union peacekeeping force has been deployed in the region,
militias backed by the government of Sudan continue to burn entire
villages to the ground, harass, beat and rape women and girls, and
block delivery of humanitarian aid. Today drought and famine threaten
millions of desperate people who already suffer under the continuing
genocide.

As the movie "Hotel Rwanda" reminds us, inaction in the face
of preventable genocide has grave consequences. Action by the United
States and the international community in the next month could change
the situation in Darfur and stop the killing. War is not the answer.

Senators Jon Corzine (NJ) and Sam Brownback (KS) this week introduced
bipartisan legislation (S 495) calling on the U.S. to support the
expansion of the African peacekeeping force, to impose focused
sanctions on the government of Sudan, and to press the United Nations
Security Council to impose sanctions on "perpetrators of crimes
against humanity in Darfur."

ACT NOW

Write your senators urging them to cosponsor of the "Darfur
Accountability Act of 2005" (S 495). If your senator is already a
cosponsor of this legislation (for a list of cosponsors see
"background" below), please thank them, and urge quick Senate
action on this legislation. You can find cosponsorship information and
sample letters on FCNL's web site,
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/BVFTEIBPUV/AZJIEIBQFK/

BACKGROUND

Thank the co sponsors of Darfur Accountability Act of 2005: Corzine
(NJ), Brownback (KS), Dodd (CT), Durbin (IL), Feingold (WI), Lieberman
(CT), Talent (MO), Dewine (OH), and Coburn (OK). (For more information
on the bill see http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/BVFTEIBPUV/CSXUEIBQFL/)

To read the New York Times interview with a former U.S. Marine deployed
in Darfur who describes the situation on the ground last month and why
peacekeeping troops do not yet have the capacity to prevent the
killings, click here:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/BVFTEIBPUV/KYZPEIBQFM/ "The world is
failing Darfur," Jan Egeland, the UN under secretary general for
humanitarian affairs told the New York Times. "We're only playing
the humanitarian card, and we're just witnessing the massacres."

The movie "Hotel Rwanda" that is playing now in theaters
across the United States has powerfully reminded viewers that the world
stood by while hundreds of thousands of people were murdered . The
world knew what was happening in Rwanda and chose not to act to stop
the killings.

In Darfur, Sudan,the crisis has been unfolding for years. President
Bush declared the situation in Darfur a genocide, the United Nations
Security Council has called on the government of Sudan to stop the
killing, and other African countries have sent peacekeeping forces to
the area. These measure are commendable, but they are not enough. The
situation in Darfur is getting worse.

There is an alternative. By strengthening the peacekeeping forces,
imposing focused sanctions that pressure the government of Sudan and
cut off its revenues from oil sales, and by taking leadership in
demanding the prosecution of those responsible for crimes against
humanity, the United States can work cooperatively with the
international community to stop the killing.

This is an opportunity to reaffirm the central FCNL argument that there
is an alternative to war; there are realistic measures available that
the international community can take to peacefully prevent deadly
conflict. War is Not the Answer.

For more information on Darfur, see
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/BVFTEIBPUV/EQDSEIBQFN/

To read FCNL's letter to senators asking them to cosponsor the Darfur
Accountability Act, see
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/BVFTEIBPUV/ANMBEIBQFO/

To read the background essay on Darfur that FCNL distributed last year,
see http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/BVFTEIBPUV/NMZWEIBQFP/

For information on the Save Darfur Coalition, see
http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/BVFTEIBPUV/FXYGEIBQFQ/

---------------------

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