Act for Sudan believes that a U.S. aid operation with or without the approval of the government of Sudan is necessary, appropriate and urgently required. Act for Sudan calls on the United States to lead the international community in ensuring that these innocent Sudanese people are protected from their government and the famine crisis is averted.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 20, 2012
CONTACT: Susan Morgan, 617 797 0451, susan@paxcommunications.org
Statement from Act for Sudan:
Act for Sudan members are encouraged by recent news reports suggesting that the Obama Administration may intervene to provide aid to the half-million people facing impending famine in Sudan’s border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Since the government of Sudan has continuously blocked humanitarian assistance since the latest military assault on its citizens began on June 5, 2011, Act for Sudan believes that a U.S. aid operation with or without the approval of the government of Sudan is necessary, appropriate and urgently required. Act for Sudan calls on the United States to lead the international community in ensuring that these innocent Sudanese people are protected from their government and the famine crisis is averted. Act for Sudan calls on the Obama Administration to deliver on the promise of the unnamed State Department official who said, “We are simply not going to sit back and watch while 100,000 people starve to death.”
Background:
More than half a million people in Sudan’s border states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile may face “emergency conditions bordering on famine” by March, said the U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Princeton Lyman, on Wednesday. This “could be a horrific tragedy that would rattle the souls of Africa and the world for years to come,” Lyman also said.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice stated on the record that “the government of Sudan has deliberately denied access to international NGOs, the United Nations, and international humanitarian workers to the most affected populations in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile,” disregarding urgent requests from the U.S. and U.N. for the “government of Sudan to grant immediate and unconditional humanitarian access into the region,” resulting in a “situation that is unconscionable and unacceptable.”
“This conflict has affected more than 500,000 people, and if there is not a substantial new inflow of aid by March” the situation in Southern Kordofan will be “one step short of full- scale famine,” Rice told reporters in New York. The government has “deliberately denied access” to international aid and UN workers in the conflict areas of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, which are the most affected by food shortages, Rice said
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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. For more information please visit www.actforsudan.org.
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