November 3, 2011

Bipartisan Alliance Asks Obama to Help Protect Millions of Sudanese from Slaughter, Displacement and Starvation

Filed under Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Susan Morgan, 617 797 0451, susan@paxcommunications.org

Elizabeth Blackney, 541 390 1913, eliz@medializzy.com

CITIES NATIONWIDE – November 3, 2011 –  It is an uncommon alliance.  Republicans and Democrats.  Evangelicals and Jews.  Americans and Sudanese. Together, they are asking President Obama, through an open letter signed by 66 organizations across the country, to “take up as urgent matters” civilian protection and humanitarian assistance for millions of Sudanese facing government-sponsored attacks and obstruction of humanitarian assistance.  The letter was coordinated by Act for Sudan, a new alliance of American citizen activists and Sudanese U.S. residents from across the country. (Full text of letter below)

The urgency of the letter is underscored by the dire and underreported current events in Sudan, particularly in the regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.  The letter states, “hundreds of thousands of civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile face relentless aerial attacks, violent displacement, and starvation due to the Sudanese government’s ongoing military assaults.”

Among other recommendations, the letter asks Obama to instruct the National Security Council to accelerate decisions and related actions regarding protection of Nuba, Blue Nile, and Darfuri populations from air attacks and to seriously consider the destruction of offensive aerial assets and/or the imposition of a no-fly zone.  It also requests the immediate initiation of a cross border emergency aid program to the Nuba Mountains, Darfur, Blue Nile and Abyei regions.

“We believe the United States is not doing enough to uphold its responsibility to protect innocent civilians from atrocities perpetrated by the Sudanese government,” the letter states.  “We, therefore, respectfully request that your Administration make it a top priority to provide the necessary protection and change the ruthless political calculations of the National Congress Party.”  Further, the signatories to the letter state that they are “deeply concerned and distressed by the Obama Administration’s current Sudan policy in the face of ongoing government-sponsored genocide that has spanned more than two decades and resulted in the death and displacement of millions of people.”

Recently, American citizen activists and Sudanese U.S. residents from across the country formed a grassroots alliance — Act for Sudan — with a mission to end genocide and mass atrocities in Sudan.

Organizational members of Act for Sudan currently include: African Soul, American Heart; Americans Against the Darfur Genocide; American Friends Service Committee; Beja Congress, Greater Washington D.C. Chapter; Brooklyn Coalition for Darfur; Change the world. It just takes cents; Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action; Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur; Darfur Action Group of South Carolina; Darfur and Beyond; Darfur Interfaith Network; Darfur People’s Association of New York; Dear Sudan, Love Marin; Essex County Coalition for Darfur; Genocide No More – Save Darfur of Redding, CA; Human Rights & Advocacy Network for Democracy (HAND); Iowa Center for Genocide Prevention; Investors Against Genocide; Idaho Darfur Coalition; Jewish World Watch; Jews Against Genocide; Joining Our Voices; Lane County Darfur Coalition; Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur; Never Again Coalition; New York Darfur Vigil Group; New York Coalition for Darfur and All Sudan; Nuba Mountain Peace Coalition; Nuba Mountains Advocacy Group, USA; Nuba Mountains American Advocacy Group; One Million Bones; Orange County For Darfur; Operation Broken Silence; Our Humanity in the Balance; Persecution Project Foundation; San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition; Save Darfur Washington State; Society for Threatened People; Stop Genocide Now; Sudan Advocacy Action Forum; Sudan Unlimited; The Institute on Religion & Democracy’s Church Alliance for a New Sudan; THE INSTITUTE on Religion and Public Policy; Use Your Voice to Stop Genocide RI; Voices for Sudan; and World Without Genocide.

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Act for Sudan is an alliance of American citizen activists and Sudanese U.S. residents who advocate for an end to genocide and mass atrocities in Sudan. Act for Sudan is dedicated to advocacy that is directly informed by the situation on the ground and by Sudanese people who urgently seek protection, justice, and peace. Our website at www.actforsudan.org is under construction.

FULL TEXT OF LETTER

November 3, 2011

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President,

We write to you as concerned Americans and Sudanese representing 66 organizations with members from every state across the country.  We include national and regional human rights and anti-genocide advocates, faith-based groups, and members of the Sudanese diaspora.

Together we recently formed Act for Sudan, a national alliance of advocates working together to end genocide and mass atrocities in Sudan. Our advocacy is directly informed by the situation on the ground and by Sudanese people who urgently seek protection, justice, and peace.

As we write this letter, hundreds of thousands of civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile face relentless aerial attacks, violent displacement, and starvation due to the Sudanese government’s ongoing military assaults.  Residents of these areas are now also experiencing additional ground attacks as the rainy season has ended and the government is activating militias and ground equipment that were staged for deployment. Further, the government is denying humanitarian aid access to these vulnerable men, women and children as well as the IDPs who fled Abyei months ago. In Darfur, civilians continue their years of living in insecurity and under government oppression and attack.

We are deeply concerned and distressed by the Obama Administration’s current Sudan policy in the face of ongoing government-sponsored genocide that has spanned more than two decades and resulted in the death and displacement of millions of people. We believe the United States is not doing enough to uphold its responsibility to protect innocent civilians from atrocities perpetrated by the Sudanese government. We, therefore, respectfully request that your Administration make it a top priority to provide the necessary protection and change the ruthless political calculations of the National Congress Party.

Please instruct the National Security Council to take up as urgent matters:

1. Civilian Protection  Accelerate decisions and related actions regarding protection of Nuba, Blue Nile, and Darfuri populations from air attacks.  Please seriously consider the destruction of offensive aerial assets and/or (as long requested by the affected Sudanese civilians) imposition of a no-fly zone.

2. Humanitarian Aid  Immediately initiate a cross border emergency aid program to the Nuba Mountains, Darfur, Blue Nile and Abyei regions.

A reason for past failures to secure peace in Sudan has been a sequential approach to conflicts perceived as individual crises when the root causes are systemic. We, therefore, ask that the NSC formulate longer term strategies to:

3. End Impunity; Support Justice

    1. As the Government of Sudan has blocked almost all independent reporting from these affected areas, lead the actions required to establish independent commissions of inquiry into the South Kordofan and Blue Nile attacks, as recommended by Ambassador Lyman, and (b) reconstitute the UN Panel of Experts on Darfur (or similar body) that reports on a regular, timely and unedited basis
    2. Lead effective international coordination to apprehend individuals subject to outstanding and any future International Criminal Court arrest warrants and actively support the work of the ICC.
    3. Impose draconian financial sanctions against officials (and their associated businesses) responsible for attacks against civilians.

4. Secure Peace, Leading to Democratic Transition.

  1. Refocus the disparate ongoing “peace” negotiations toward one comprehensive process including all marginalized populations and their concerns.
  2. Provide tangible political, logistical and financial support for Sudanese organizations urging democratic reform, the rule of law and civil rights.
  3. Coordinate the necessary regional and multinational support for internationally observed elections.

5. The Eradication of Slavery. Refocus attention on the tens of thousands of people still enslaved in Darfur, Kordofan and other areas of Sudan by committing to the eradication of government-sponsored slavery and making a focused effort to ensure that all remaining slaves be set free.

We are grateful that your Administration led the massive coordinated efforts needed for the successful January 2011 South Sudan referendum. We respectfully ask that the National Security Council similarly focus on both the urgent and longer term matters summarized in this letter noting particularly the very strong probability of massive loss of life and displacement if action is not taken before the rainy season ends in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile.

Sincerely,

Act for Sudan

African Soul, American Heart
Deb Dawson, President
Fargo, ND

Americans Against the Darfur Genocide
Nikki Serapio, Director
Washington, DC

American Anti-Slavery Group
Charles Jacobs, President
Boston, MA

Brooklyn Coalition for Darfur & Marginalized Sudan
Laura J. Limuli, Coordinator
Brooklyn, NY

CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center
Kiel Majewski, Executive Director
Terre Haute, IN

Care Darfur Group International
Hadia Omer, Coordinator
Brooklyn, NY

“Change the World. It just takes cents.”
Sara Kornfeld, Director
Denver, CO

Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action
Roz Duman, Coordinator
Denver, CO

Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur
Timothy Oslovich, Chairperson
Vernon, CT

Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy
Mohamed Yahya, Executive Director
Falls Church, VA

Darfur Action Group–Northwest Bronx/Yonkers
Gene Binder, Member Steering Committee
New York, NY

Darfur Action Group of South Carolina
Richard Sribnick, MD – chairman
Columbia, SC

Darfur and Beyond
Cory Williams, Co-founder
Phoenix, AZ

Darfur Community Organization
Bakheit A Shata, Founder/Executive Director
Omaha, NE

Darfur Interfaith Network
Martha Boshnick, Co-Chair
Washington, DC

Darfur People’s Association of New York
Ahmat Nour, President
Brooklyn, NY

Darfur Solidarity USA
Dr. Mohammed Eisa
Boston, MA

Dear Sudan, Love Marin
Gerri Miller, Founder and Coordinator
Tiburon, CA

Dr. Samuel Totten
Author and Genocide Scholar
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Fayetteville, AR

Elizabeth Blackney
Author and Anti-genocide advocate
Virginia Beach, VA

Enough Project
John Bradshaw, Executive Director
Washington, DC

Eric Reeves
Sudan Researcher
Northampton, MA

Essex County Coalition for Darfur
Gloria Crist, Cofounder
Montclair, NJ

Fur Cultural Revival
El-Fadel Arbab, Secretary and Lecturer
Portland, ME

Genocide No More–Save Darfur of Redding, CA
Marv Steinberg, Coordinator
Redding, CA

Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide
Melanie Nelkin, Chair
Atlanta, GA

Human Rights & Advocacy Network for Democracy (HAND)
Abdalmageed S. Haroun, Chairperson
Brooklyn, NY

Idaho Darfur Coalition
A.J. Fay, Co-Founder
Boise, ID

Investors Against Genocide
Eric Cohen, Chairperson
Boston, MA

Iowa Center for Genocide Prevention
Kristen Anderson, Founder & 2011 Carl Wilkens Fellow
Des Moines, IA

Jews Against Genocide
Eileen Weiss, Co-founder
New York, NY

Joining Our Voices
Jack Slater Armstrong, Founder/Director
Baton Rouge, LA

Lane County Darfur Coalition
Roz Slovic, Coordinator
Eugene, OR

Long Island Darfur Action Group
Nancy Walsh, Coordinator
Long Island, NY

Never Again Coalition
Diane Koosed, Co-chair
Portland, OR

New York Coalition for Darfur and All Sudan
Neiki Ullah, Director of Communications and Advocacy
New York, NY

New York Darfur Vigil Group
Helga Moor, Coordinator
New York, NY

North Jersey Coalition for Darfur
Tanya Simon, Coordinator
Randolph, NJ

Nuba Mountains American Advocacy Group
Mario Angelo, Secretary General
Fresno, CA

Nuba Mountains Advocacy Group, USA
Amin Z. Ismail, Co-Chairperson
Batavia, OH

Nuba Mountains International Association USA
Shalum Ojchung Deeka, Chairperson

Nuba Mountain Peace Coalition
Robert Cooper, Interim Chairman
Dallas, TX

Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur
William Rosenfeld
Boston, MA

One Million Bones
Naomi Natale, Director and Founder
Albuquerque, NM

Operation Broken Silence
Mark C. Hackett, President
Memphis, TN

Orange County for Darfur, a project of Living Ubuntu
Barbara English, Executive Director
Newport Beach, CA

Our Humanity in the Balance
Terry Nickelson, Executive Director
Asheville, NC

Persecution Project Foundation
Bradford Phillips, Founder and CEO
Culpeper, VA

Phil L. Nippert
Sudan advocate and researcher
Louisville, KY

San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition
Mohamed Suleiman, President
San Francisco, CA

Save Darfur Washington State
Ned Laskowski President
Seattle, WA

Servant’s Heart
Diane Winkleman Bennett, President
New York, NY

Shine A Ray of Hope
Carmen Paolercio, Coordinator
New Rochelle, NY

Society for Threatened People
Sharon Silber, US representative
New York, NY

Southern Sudan Health Care Organization
Timothy Page M.D., Director
Birmingham, MI

Sudan Advocacy Action Forum
Bill Andress, Moderator
Lexington, SC

Sudan Freedom Walk
Simon Deng, Founder
New York, NY

Sudan Unlimited
Esther Sprague
San Francisco, CA

Stop Genocide Now
Gabriel Stauring, Director and Co-founder
Redondo Beach, CA

The Institute on Religion & Democracy’s Church Alliance for a New Sudan
Faith J. H. McDonnell, Director
Washington, DC

THE INSTITUTE on Religion and Public Policy
Joseph K. Grieboski, Founder and Chairman of the Board
Alexandria, VA

The Southern Sudanese Community
Natalina Malwal, President
Alexandria, VA

Use Your Voice to Stop Genocide RI
Sandra Hammel, Director
Portsmouth, RI

Voices for Sudan
Jimmy Mulla, founder and President
Washington, DC

Voice of the Copts
Ashraf Ramelah, President
Allentown, PA

World Without Genocide
Dr. Ellen J. Kennedy, Executive Director
Edina, MN