December 11, 2012
Hours after the announcement that Ambassador Lyman would be stepping down from Sudan Special Envoy, Act for Sudan released a letter to President Obama demanding a shift in U.S. Sudan Policy. The letter was signed by 76 U.S.-based organizations, 12 genocide scholars and other notable human rights advocates.
Josh Rogin of The Cable highlights the letter and Lyman’s resignation:
Seventy-six U.S.-based human rights organizations wrote to Obama today to urge him to shift U.S. Sudan policy in his second term toward more focus on preventing mass atrocities.
Among the concerns of the human rights community are that humanitarian situation in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile is getting worse, including widespread suffering, food shortages, human rights abuses, fear, displacement and loss of life. Humanitarian access to all areas of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile is difficult and aid groups are worries that the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in those two areas has the potential to undermine the fragile peace between Sudan and South Sudan.
The letter requests that the Obama administration deliver humanitarian aid to starving Sudanese civilians even absent agreement from the government of Sudan, instruct the National Security Council to accelerate decisions on protection of vulnerable populations from air attacks, and to seriously consider the destruction of Sudan’s offensive aerial assets and the imposition of a no-fly zone.
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