FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Susan Morgan, 617 797 0451, susan@paxcommunications.org
Elizabeth Blackney, 541 390 1913, eliz@medializzy.com
MEDIA AVAILABILITY AT HOFSTA – Act for Sudan representatives will speak in the Free Speech area at approximately 3:40 PM, 8:40 PM, 9:00 PM, 9:10 PM and 9:30 PM. Activists will be available for interviews throughout the afternoon and evening.
DURING DEBATES, VOTERS PRESS CANDIDATES, “WHAT ABOUT SUDAN?”
Once a hot political topic, both campaigns now quiet on regime’s atrocities
HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK – October 16, 2012 – Via online petitions, social media and a presence at the debates, voters across the country are appealing to both presidential campaigns to address the issue of Sudan in advance of the election. This comprehensive effort to get Sudan on the presidential campaign agenda has been coordinated by Act for Sudan, a bipartisan, interfaith alliance of American and Sudanese grassroots advocacy groups.
According to Act for Sudan, genocide in slow motion continues in Sudan, off the radar of both presidential campaigns and out of the media spotlight. Currently, the Sudan regime, led by a president indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, is causing the death, displacement and starvation of Sudanese civilians in Darfur, South Kordofan/Nuba Mountains, the Blue Nile state and other marginalized areas.
While four years ago both Mr. Obama, Mr. Romney and Mr. Biden spoke out forcefully during the debates regarding the importance of ending violence against civilians in Sudan, neither presidential candidate has outlined his current position regarding how to stop the government of Sudan from its ongoing atrocities. When speaking about Sudan in 2007 candidate Barack Obama called the genocide in Darfur a “stain on our souls” and said that “as a president of the United States I don’t intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter.” Joe Biden, the same year, called for military force in Darfur. Yet five years later, the same genocidal regime, whose grave human rights abuses have been left unchecked by the international community, is emboldened to continue to perpetrate atrocities, not only in Darfur but now in Sudan’s border regions.
Act for Sudan, together with voters across the country is calling on the next president of the United States to 1) Deliver humanitarian aid to the starving Sudanese civilians in the Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan and Blue Nile State, with or without agreement from the UN Security Council, with multilateral partners or unilaterally, and with the urgency that is required to save starving people, 2) 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, 3) Support an end to the regime of President Bashir, who has been indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and support the movement within Sudan for democratic transformation and 4) Demonstrate strong leadership to end the government-sponsored violence in Sudan, protect civilians in Sudan and South Sudan and bring the perpetrators of genocide and mass atrocities to justice at the International Criminal Court.
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