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President Bush and Congress have heard the appeals of activists, and
public attention is focused more than ever on the humanitarian
crisis taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. Tens of thousands
of activists around the country turned out for rallies on Sunday,
April 30, to demand a stronger international role in ending the
genocide.
While the situation in Darfur and in neighboring Chad continues to
worsen, it is essential to build on the
momentum generated by the rallies by urging Congress and the
president to act promptly on pending legislation dealing with the
Darfur crisis.
Thanks to your grassroots voices for justice, the House of
Representatives in early April passed the Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act (H.R. 3127) with a powerful vote of 416-3, and
the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment for an
additional $50 million, or a total of $173 million, to help fund
African Union peacekeepers in Darfur.
Take action now!
Call and e-mail your U.S. representative:
Tell Congress to send a strong signal against the genocide by
supporting the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (HR3127) and a
supplemental appropriation of at least $173 million for the African
Union Mission in Darfur.
Join the Million Voices for Darfurcall to action.Sign an electronic postcard to President Bush today and request packets of cards for your congregation or community group to circulate. UUSC and our allies in the Save Darfur Coalition will collect 1 million signed postcards to President Bush and deliver them on April 30 at a rally for Darfur in Washington, D. C.
Call the Capitol switchboard directly at 202-224-3121 where
you can ask to be connected to your representative's office. Visit our online Legislative Action Center
to send an immediate e-mail to your elected representative.
Talking points for phone calls and
messages
- As a member of UUSC and voter in [name of your hometown and state], I am deeply concerned about the continuing genocide taking place in Darfur, Sudan.
- The influx of new refugee and increasing pressure on international workers in recent months suggest an upsurge of violence in Darfur. The scope of this violence and the active involvement of the Sudanese government — under the guise of eliminating an antigovernment insurgency — are indisputable. No cause can justify this extreme violence against civilians.
- Women and girls continue to face the threat of rape in the refugee camps in Chad, especially when they must leave their camps to gather firewood. This gender-based violence is part of an attempt to destroy the culture of the Zagawa, Fur, and Masalit ethnic groups, which have suffered most from the attacks.
- I urge you to send a powerful signal of concern by supporting the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (H.R.3127).
- I further strongly recommend that you push for an urgent supplemental appropriations of at least $173 million for the African Union troops that are currently underfunded, ill-equipped and the only forces on the ground to monitor the situation.
Background
The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act would authorize sanctions against — and also freeze the assets of — individuals responsible for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. The bill and a different version passed by the Senate now must be reconciled before anything can be signed into law. Both set a U.S. policy that supports international and African Union humanitarian efforts and programs to protect citizens.
The appropriations measure brings the Senate bill to the same
$173 million funding level in the House-passed bill. Please continue
to express support for inclusion of this additional funding in the
final bill.
Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in Darfur, Sudan, continues
to deteriorate. In recent weeks, more than 30,000 people were forced
to flee from displaced camps after armed militias attacked in
southern Darfur. Increased violence has hampered the delivery of
humanitarian assistance putting hundreds of thousands more at risk
of hunger and illness.
The U.N. Security Council has approved a U.S.-supported initiative
to plan for a transition from the African Union force now in Darfur
to a new, larger and more robust U.N. force. However, such a
transition would still take nine months to one year to be deployed.
In the meantime, the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) forces
expect to run out of money soon if no other actions are taken.
Darfur, a region in western Sudan, is home to what the United
Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Since
February 2003, over 400,000 men, women and children have died while
another 2.5 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee
their homes. The violence in Darfur has a strong gender element,
including the use of rape as a weapon of war. Women and girls
continue to face the threat of rape in the refugee camps in Chad,
especially when they must leave their camps to gather firewood. This
gender-based violence is part of an attempt to destroy the culture
of the Zagawa, Fur, and Masalit ethnic groups, which have suffered
most from the attacks.
For more background, visit:
International action needed
Legislative action needed
While the West has launched a belated humanitarian response to this tragedy, we fear that the international community is offering this response as a face-saving alternative to the decisive political action necessary to stop the killing and depredation of these communities. In deploying a peacekeeping force, the African Union (AU) has stepped forward to take on a role that other international actors have consciously avoided.
The AU mandate, however, allows the force to act only to protect civilians in extremely limited circumstances. Its resources are insufficient to allow it to significantly deter the actions of armed groups. Today, approximately 5,000 ill-equipped troops are spread across a theater of operations the size of Texas. Improving the protection capacity of the AU force will require a strong expression of political will by the international community.
In January 2006, UUSC joined with 24 allies to send a letter to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton asking that he "assert international leadership and obtain action on Darfur. Specifically, we urge you to draft and introduce a resolution that would 're-hat' the African Union mission in Darfur as a U.N. operation, granting it a strong mandate to protect civilians and humanitarian operations, and authorize a U.N. force to be deployed as soon as possible to the region."
Such an international intervention is essential to accomplish four main objectives:
1) Stop the killings, rapes, and pillaging in Darfur;
2) Provide security to facilitate humanitarian assistance programs for internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees;
3) Enforce the African Union cease-fire between the Khartoum government and the rebel groups in Darfur to allow meaningful political negotiations to move forward in Abuja, Nigeria; and
4) Facilitate the voluntary return of IDPs to their land and the reconstruction of their homes by providing a secure environment.
A U.N. resolution to "re-hat" the AU in Darfur and to authorize a larger multinational intervention can effectively address the crisis in Darfur. Previous examples of successful cooperation between African regional bodies as "first responders" to crises and the United Nations as reinforcement include peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Burundi. These precedents show that, with proper planning and coordination, a U.N. intervention in support of an African mission can act as a deterrent to violence and as a catalyst for successful peace talks.
Legislative action needed: Darfur Peace and Accountability Act
The Senate version of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (S. 1462) passed by voice vote on November 18, 2005. The House has yet to take up the bill, which includes:
- Reaffirming the finding of genocide; urging expansion and a stronger mandate for the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS); calling for "additional, dispositive measures" if the AU mission fails to stop the genocide; and calling for appointment of a presidential envoy for Sudan.
- Authorizing the administration to provide assistance to reinforce the AU mission, including, but not limited to, logistics, transportation, communications, training, command and control, technical support, and aerial surveillance.
- Denying entry at U.S. ports to cargo ships and oil tankers engaged in business or trade in the oil sector of Sudan or involved in the shipment of goods for use by Sudanese armed forces.
- Prohibiting nonhumanitarian assistance to Sudan from countries that violate the military embargo imposed by UNSCR 1556 and 1591.
- Directing the administration to pursue passages of a U.N. Security Council resolution expanding AMIS, increasing the pressure on peace talks, imposing individual sanctions, and calling for suspension of Sudan’s rights and privileges of membership in the General Assembly.
- Requiring reports on sanctions imposed by the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act (2004) and on the status of the AMIS mission and U.S. assistance to it.