March 22, 2013

Letter to Emir of Qatar Regarding Donor Conference

Filed under Public Statements

Download the Letter pdf here.

March 22, 2013

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani
Emir of Qatar
Embassy of the State of Qatar
2555 M Street, NW
Washington, DC  20037

His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani,

We, the undersigned international NGOs and genocide scholars, are writing to protest Qatar’s hosting of the upcoming donors’ conference to be held in Doha on April 7 – 8, 2013.  We object to any form of financial support by Qatar for Sudan since such support places your country, as well as all international donors, squarely in the role of helping to fund the genocidal Sudanese regime.

As you know, genocide continues in Sudan. The National Congress Party (NCP) regime in Sudan, led by a president indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, is causing the death, starvation, displacement, and destruction of livelihood of Sudanese civilians in Darfur, Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Among the issues of greatest concern is the fact that unlawful attacks against civilians continue in Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile, and the East even as the Government of Sudan continues to restrict movement and access for international humanitarian aid organizations operating throughout Sudan. Further key issues with South Sudan remain unresolved, including final definition and demarcation of the north-south border and the final status of the Abyei area. People across Sudan who protest the current regime are denied basic rights and face attack, arrest and torture.

Efforts to promote investments in Sudan are premature and put the international community at risk of funding a government that continues to perpetrate massive human rights violations against its own people. Such investments should not occur prior to a cessation of attacks on civilians, the granting of unhindered humanitarian access across Sudan, and a clear demonstration of progress on all remaining issues, including an inclusive constitutional review process followed by free and fair elections.

This letter has been formulated with extensive input from Diaspora Darfuri communities who remain closely in touch with their families in Darfur, as well as with civil society groups and NGOs who have been following the Darfur crisis for more than a decade.  Input from these sources indicates that:

– Previous Darfur donors’ conferences collected billions of dollars, but there are no signs on the ground today of how those billions of dollars were spent. Instead, the money, after falling in the hands of the central government, is used against the people of Darfur to fund aerial bombardments and militia attacks.

– Any money now collected in the name of Darfur for seemingly positive purposes (such as water, education, infrastructure) is at risk of serving as an elaborate scheme to divert money to fund the ongoing wars in Darfur, Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile. Darfuris will see very little of that money, if any.

– Qatar’s influence should be used to reach Darfuris in the Diaspora, the main rebel factions, and the Internally Displaced Persons inside Darfur and refugees in Chad to reach a consensus of how to meet the demands of Darfuri people in providing security, protection, accountability, and a just and lasting peace.

In closing, without real on-the-ground progress in Sudan, Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Darfur, Sudan’s history of genocidal violence makes it extremely likely that this conference, and any related financial support, will help to fund more atrocities against civilians.  Please cancel the conference and withhold any financial assistance that will help support genocide.

Sincerely,

 

Act for Sudan
Martina Knee, Co-Founder
USA

Ahmed Adam
Visiting Scholar at Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights
New York, NY, USA

Aegis Trust
Dr. Mukesh Kapila, Special Representative
London, UK

Africa Action UK
Paul Muortat, Chairman
London, UK

African Freedom Coalition
Al Sutton, Founder
New York, NY, USA

African Soul, American Heart
Debra Dawson, President
Fargo, ND, USA

Armenian Assembly of America
Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director
Washington, DC, USA

Armenian National Committee of America
Aram Hamparian, Executive Director
Washington, DC, USA

Arry Organization for Human Rights and Development
Osman Naway Habila, General Director
Kansas City, MO, USA

Beja Congress, Greater Washington D.C. Chapter
Ibrahim T. Ahmed, Representative
Fairfax, VA, USA

Blue Nile Association of North America
Omer A. Omer, Board Member
Mulberry, FLA, USA

Bnei Darfur
Adam Basher, CEO
Tel Aviv, Israel

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

Center for Human Rights and Genocide Studies, University of North Dakota
Gregory S. Gordon, Director
Grand Forks, ND, USA

“Change the world. It just takes cents” TM
Sara Caine Kornfeld, Founder/Educator
Denver, CO, USA

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

Collectif Urgence Darfour
Jacky Mamou, President
Paris, France

Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action
Roz Duman, Founder/Director
Denver, CO, USA

Combat Genocide Association
Uriel Levy, Director
Tel Aviv, Israel

Community Empowerment for Progress Organization
Edmund Yakani, CEPO Program Director
Juba, South Sudan

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

Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy
Daowd Salih, Board President
Falls Church, VA, USA

Darfur and Beyond
Cory Williams, Co-Founder
Phoenix, AZ, USA

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

Darfur Culture
Mohammadain Ishag, President
Antwerpen, Belgium

Darfur Human Rights Organization of the USA
Abdelgabar Adam, Founder and President
Philadelphia, PA, USA

Darfur Interfaith Network
Richard Young, Co-Chair
Washington, DC, USA

Darfur International School
Jacob Berry, Founder
Tel Aviv, Israel

Darfur Leaders Network (DLN)
Motasim Adam, Director
Washington, DC, USA

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

Darfur Solidarity USA
Mohammed Ahmed Eisa, Executive Director
Cambridge, MA, USA

Darfur Union, UK & Ireland
Hussain Begira, Chairperson
London, United Kingdom

Darfurian Association of Greater Houston
Suliman Awadalla, Executive Director
Houston, TX, USA

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

Dr. Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe
Visiting Professor, Universidade de Fortaleza, Author of Biafra Revisited (Dakar and Reading: African Renaissance, 2006) and Readings from Reading: Essays on African Politics, Genocide, Literature (Dakar and Reading: African Renaissance, 2011)
Fortaleza, Brazil

Essex County Coalition for Darfur
Gloria Crist, Co-Founder
Montclair, NJ, USA

Mia Farrow
Actor
CT, USA

Helen Fein
Board Chair, Institute for the Study of Genocide
New York, NY, USA

Genocide No More
Marv Steinberg, Coordinator
Redding, CA, USA

Genocide Watch, George Mason University
Dr. Gregory Stanton, President
Arlington, VA, USA

GeNoticed
Elizabeth Blackney, Co-Founder, Author and Anti-genocide advocate
Virginia Beach, VA, USA

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

Harry Potter Alliance
Andrew Slack, Executive Director
Somerville, MA, USA

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

Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust
Baroness Caroline Cox, Independent Peer, House of Lords, UK Parliament and CEO
United Kingdom

Humanity is Us
Kimberly Hollingsworth, Founder
New York, NY, USA

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

International Genocide Scholars Association
Bonnie Mircovich, Administrator
Long Beach, CA, USA

Investors Against Genocide
Eric Cohen, Chairperson
Boston, MA, USA

Italians for Darfur
Antonella Napoli, President
Rome, Italy

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

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

Kentuckiana Interfaith Taskforce On Darfur (KITOD)
Phil Nippert, Chairperson
Louisville, KY, USA

Koinonia  Nuba Community Organization
Yassir Kuti, Assistant Coordinator
Nairobi, Kenya

Kurdistan Without Genocide
Ali Mahmud, Director
Arbil, Iraq

Lane County Darfur Coalition
Roz Slovic, Coordinator
Eugene, OR, USA

Lifeline for Development and Humanitarian Aid
Hussein Idriss Momed, President
Niamey, Niger

Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur
William Rosenfeld, Director
Boston, MA, USA

Dr. Deborah Mayersen
Research Fellow, University of Wollongong
Wollongong, Australia

Never Again Coalition
Diane Koosed, Co-Chair
Portland, OR, USA

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

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

Nuba Mountain Peace Coalition
Robert Cooper, Principal
Dallas, TX, USA

Nuba Now
Claire Budd, Co-Founder
London, UK

Nubia Project
Nuraddin Abdelmannan, President
Silver Spring, MD, USA

Operation Broken Silence
Mark C. Hackett, CEO, Executive Director
Memphis, TN, USA

Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition
David Rosenberg, Coordinator
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Eric Reeves
Sudan Researcher, Author of Compromising with Evil: An Archival History of Greater Sudan, 2007 – 2012 (eBook, 2012)
Northampton, MA, USA

Hawa Abdallah Mohammed Salih
U.S. Department of State 2012 International Women of Courage Award Winner
Flemington, NJ, USA

San Antonio Coalition Against Genocide
Susan Smylie, Coordinator of Advocacy
San Antonio, TX, USA

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

Shine a Ray of Hope
Carmen Paolercio, Coordinator
New Rochelle, NY, USA

Society for Threatened People
Sharon Silber, US Representative
New York, NY, USA

South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network
Savior Woodcan, Secretary
Juba, South Sudan

Southern Sudan Project
William Deng
Richmond, VA, USA

Stop Genocide Now
Gabriel Stauring, Director and Founder
Redondo Beach, CA, USA

Sudan Advocacy Action Forum

Dr. Eleanor Wright, Moderator
Birmingham, AL, USA

Temple Ahavat Achim Darfur Social Action Committee
Professsor Lakshmi Sirois, Chair
Gloucester, MA, USA

Dr. Samuel Totten
Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Author of An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide (Praeger Security International, 2010)
Fayetteville, AR, USA

Unite For Darfur
Bahar Arabie, CEO, Author of Darfur, Road to Genocide
Rockville, MD, USA

United Sudanese and South Sudanese Community Association (USASSCA)
Henry Lejukole, Chairman
Des Moines, IA, USA

Voices for Sudan
Jimmy Mulla, Founder and President
Washington, DC, USA

Waging Peace
Olivia Warham, Director
London, United Kingdom

John H. Weiss
Director and Associate Professor of History, Cornell University
Ithaca, NY, USA

 

CC:
John F. Kerry, Secretary of State, United States of America