Lousie Slaughter Sent a Letter to Obama!

Hi all!

Thanks so much for your emails to Representative Louise Slaughter, encouraging her to write the President about the situation in Darfur.

She sent a letter to Obama today, urging him to act on the current humanitarian crisis in Darfur. It can be seen on her website at: http://www.louise.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1128&Itemid=1.

DARFUR (JEM) REBELS SENTENCED TO DEATH

A Sudanese court has sentenced 11 Darfur rebels to death for an attack on Khartoum in 2008.

The members of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) were found guilty of involvement in the unprecedented assault on the Sudanese capital.

Some 80 Jem members have already been sentenced to death for the attack, which left more than 200 people dead.

The Jem fighters drove across the desert to reach Khartoum and were only stopped near the presidential palace.

On Sunday, Judge Hafez Ahmed at the court in Khartoum found the 11 rebels guilty of terrorism and illegal possession of weapons, the AFP news agency reported.

"For their actions in terrorising the people, and threatening the foundation of the state... aggressive sentences are required," the judge told the courtroom.

Eight other men were acquitted.

The attack in May 2008 was the closest the rebels have ever been to Khartoum.

Local residents said the fighting lasted several hours.

Jem is currently the most significant fighting rebel force in Darfur.

In February, Jem signed a "declaration of intent" for a peaceful settlement of the war during talks with Sudan's government in Doha, Qatar.

But Jem is now refusing to return to the peace talks, accusing Khartoum of not honouring confidence-building accords.

Sri Lanka Piece in NYTimes

Two Sri Lankas Struggle to Tell Their Tales

By Robert Mackey

Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press Protesters outside the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Monday demanded the expulsion of Norway’s diplomats. The protesters fault Norway for failing to prevent an attack on the Sri Lankan Embassy in Oslo last week by Tamil demonstrators.

As the world waits to find out what exactly is happening in the battle between Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil separatists now trapped on a narrow strip of land in the country’s northeast, supporters of both sides in the 25-year conflict continue to fight a global propaganda war on many fronts.

International reporters are still barred by Sri Lanka’s government from the war zone, so The Times, like the BBC and other news organizations, is forced to rely on the conflicting statements of spokesmen from the country’s ministry of defense and for the rebel force, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or L.T.T.E. on what is happening there. My colleagues Mark McDonald and Sharon Otterman report on Tuesday “the embattled rebels’ last remaining sanctuary,” is “a dwindling patch of lagoons, coconut groves and beachfront,” where “an estimated 60,000 civilians remain trapped,” along with what is left of the rebel force.

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To read more, visit: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/two-sri-lankas-struggle-to-tell-their-tales/?hp

Source Materials

Hi All,

Just thought I'd post some good websites to learn more about the conflicts that we talk about, especially with regard to Darfur. Make sure to check out ReliefWeb...it's an awesome source for many countries/regions!

1. Making Sense of Darfur: http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/darfur/category/darfur/
2. SudanWatch: http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/
3. Human Rights Watch Africa: http://www.hrw.org/en/africa
4. IRIN - Sudan: http://www.irinnews.org/RSS.aspx
5. ReliefWeb: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/doc106?OpenForm
6. NYT: War Crimes, Genocides, Crimes against Humanity Topic: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/w/war_crimes_genocide_and_crimes_against_humanity/index.html?

Must-Read Article on Sri Lanka

Follows is a link that Brinda provided to a very informative article about the conflict in Sri Lanka. Bringing to light the difficulties with media coverage, it discusses the history of the conflict in Sri Lanka, its impact upon civilians, and discusses its categorization as a genocide.

Turn Out The Lights
While civil war has disrupted peace in Sri Lanka, a media blackout prevents much of the outside world from understanding or intervening in the alleged human rights violations.
by Archana Jayakumar

As the quality of life for many Americans is quickly deteriorating with the failing national and world economies, it becomes even more difficult to look beyond our own endeavors to the even greater struggles that other countries face. Many Americans do not see exactly what is happening in other parts of the world, and that is partially because American media sources, and others are not receiving the story as a whole. In recent news, the American media has finally begun to unfold the events of the past two and a half decades in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, this information is not complete. The Sri Lankan government issued a media blackout, which allows the government to sift through information before it is released to national or international agencies. The world is only privy to the information that the government wants to share. Senior finance major Milan Kanagathayalan believes that “the international community should try to solve this problem as an international issue because Tamil people [of Sri Lanka] are living in almost every county in the world as refugees of the war.”

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To read more, visit: http://www.subboard.com/generation/articles/12391322778740.asp

News Update 4/13/09

U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Major General Gration has made his first visit to Sudan, during which he met extensively with the government and visited a few refugee camps. He expressed the United States's interest in establishing friendly and cooperative relations with the Sudanese government, which was very well received. He did, however, express concern with the humanitarian aid situation, which he considers on the brink of crisis.
To read more, visit: http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/04/sudans-bashir-hails-obamas-overture-to.html.

UNAMID Report from April 13, 2009 stated that during the past 72 hours, activity in Darfur has been realtively calm. The second regular meeting of Darfur Human Rights Forum will be held in West Darfur, brining together government officials from local and national groups, emmbers of the advisory council on human rights, the African Union, UNAMID and UNMIS officials, and the Darfur State Committees on Violence Against Women. The goal of the Forum is to provide "transparent and constructive dialouge on human rights issues between the Sudanese government and UNAMID."
To read more, visit: http://appablog.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/darfur-unamid-daily-media-brief-15/

A two-day cease fire has been declared in Sri Lanka to allow emergency humanitarian aid to catch up to the ongoing conflict. Officials estimate that between 150,000 and 190,000 civilians unrelated to the government and the LTTE are currently stuck in a northern region called the Vanni Pocket. The Vanni Pocket is approximately the size of Manhattan.
To read more, visit: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/RMOI-7R2L25?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

News Update 4/10/09

US Envoy has "constructive" talks with Sudanese Foreign Minister

KHARTOUM, April 8 (Xinhua) -- The special envoy of the U.S. president to Sudan Scott Gration said on Wednesday that he held "constructive" talks with Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor on the situations in the western Sudanese region of Darfur and southern Sudan.

The U.S. envoy told reporters at the end of the meeting that he briefed the Sudanese foreign minister on the results of his visits to Darfur and Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, as well as Abyei, a disputed area between northern and southern Sudan.

He said that he found the situation in some areas in Darfur much better than what he had expected in particular with regard to the food, while the situation in some other areas was worse especially in the areas of water and health care.

He added that a coordination between all parties concerned was necessary to improve the situation of displaced persons in Darfur and improve their poor nutrition condition.

Gration noted that the priorities for the next phase would focus on addressing the emergency situation in Darfur in the humanitarian and security fields and reach a ceasefire between the conflicting parties.

The Sudanese foreign minister, on his part, expressed his confidence that the visit of the U.S. envoy to Sudan would help the new U.S. administration to deal with Sudan in the coming period.

He disclosed that senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in the U.S. Senate, would visit Sudan in the next week, adding that Kerry's visit would be an extension of the U.S. envoy's visit that would contribute to the development of the U.S. strategy for dealing with Sudan in the next phase.

Gration, a former U.S. Air Force major general, arrived in Sudan last Thursday on his first visit to the African country since he was appointed the special envoy by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Article citation: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/09/content_11152761.htm

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Let them decide: Civilians trapped with Tamil Tiger fighters must be offered an exit before a bloodbath ensues

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Date: 08 Apr 2009

by John Holmes, first published by The Guardian

As London witnesses Tamil protests, a bloodbath on the beaches of northern Sri Lanka seems an increasingly real possibility. The Sri Lankan military has pushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam into an area so small that any shooting or shelling inevitably causes casualties among the 150,000 to 190,000 civilians trapped in the same zone. There have been many hundreds of civilian deaths caused by firing from both sides, though exact numbers and who fired what and when are impossible to verify. It is clear that the LTTE is refusing to let people flee, though many are managing to escape somehow, and I fear the combatants may be gearing up for a final confrontation. This is a very grave situation.

As a full-scale, long-term ceasefire is unlikely to be agreed now, the only way to get the civilians out of harm's way is a temporary humanitarian lull, during which aid workers and relief supplies must be allowed into the conflict zone, and those who want to leave must be given the chance to do so.

Both sides have a duty to bring this about. The LTTE's leadership claims the civilians in the conflict zone do not want to leave because they accompanied the LTTE voluntarily in the first place and are afraid of government reprisals. Yet there are continuing reports that the group's fighters are shooting at fleeing civilians, limiting fishing and sabotaging boats that might be used to escape, and forcing people to fight against their will. Civilians trapped by the fighting must be allowed a free choice of whether to leave or stay, as we have made clear to the LTTE. If the LTTE truly has the best interests of the Tamil people at heart, they should contribute to ending this unnecessary civilian suffering.

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To read more, visit: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-7QWKT5?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

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DR Congo: Brutal Rapes by Rebels and Army

Over 180 Civilians Killed, Most by Rwandan Rebels

April 8, 2009

A Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) soldier walks toward a distribution center near Lushubere Camp in Masisi, North Kivu.

(New York) - Rwandan rebel forces, government army soldiers, and their allies have raped at least 90 women and girls since late January 2009 in the volatile North and South Kivu provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today. The Rwandan rebel forces have also been implicated in the deaths of most of the 180 civilians killed during this period.

The United Nations Security Council will discuss on April 9 the latest report by the UN secretary-general on the peacekeeping force in Congo. Human Rights Watch called on the UN Security Council to press the Congolese government to remove human rights abusers from its armed forces and end rights violations, including attacks against women and girls.

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To read more, visit: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/08/dr-congo-brutal-rapes-rebels-and-army

Thank you!

Thanks to all who helped to send letters to Louise Slaughter in Douglass on Friday!!

During lunchtime, we sent 76 letters to Louise Slaughter encouraging her to put pressure on Obama to continue the comprehensive policy analysis on Darfur so that the US can make policy decisions about Darfur soon.