In a May 20 editorial we lauded the efforts of actress Mia Farrow to get the world to pay more attention to Darfur, where the Sudanese government is allowing genocide to occur. Since then President Bush, after too many empty threats, has announced increased sanctions against several Sudanese companies and individuals, saying “The United States will not avert our eyes.” And yesterday, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced a three-phase program that could result in the state’s common retirement fund divesting in Sudan. The genocide is being committed by a militia that is bombing, murdering and raping innocent civilians, but the Sudanese government is complicit. It provides the militia with arms, and it has continually thwarted peacekeeping and even humanitarian efforts. The government, like the regime in Iran, has proven itself adept at stalling. Whenever it looked like the United Nations would impose serious sanctions, the government would make some minor concession, or agree to a meeting, or start talking about allowing peacekeepers in. Last November it actually agreed to a phased transition from the the beleaguered 7,000-member African Union force to a beefed-up joint force comprising U.N. and African peacekeepers. But then it reneged. In April, under pressure from China, its major trading partner and arms supplier, it agreed to a supplementing of the AU force with 3,000 heavily armed U.N. troops, with the joint force eventually growing to 20,000 (the number most observers agree is necessary to stop the violence). But it will take more months to assemble the troops, and given the government’s history of breaking promises, there’s widespread skepticism that it will ultimately allow the troops in. That’s why it is so important to keep the pressure on. Bush’s increased sanctions may be a case of too little too late, but they are welcome nonetheless. And DiNapoli’s program, which will first identify companies that are behaving badly in Sudan and then get them to try to change their practices before divesting in them, is a measured, responsible approach. Other states have taken similar actions, and other New York comptrollers have used the pension fund to try to influence events in Northern Ireland and South Africa. The fund’s investments in companies that have a connection to Sudan may be small, but it must in no way support genocide.
Re June 11 Matthew Rector letter, “Bush overture in Sudan,” stating that “The U.S. government has not promised to provide adequate financial or troop support for the potential U.N. mission in Darfur”: He goes on to state that “in order for the situation to improve in Darfur, 20,000 or more U.N. troops need to be deployed to the region.” Now, I ask Mr. Rector the following question: Since when is the U.S. government supposed to be the only one to supply an army? What way is it that you expect the United States to support the U.N. and International Criminal Court (ICC) to legitimize them? These two groups are both jokes. What one thing has the ICC done so far, since its inception? As far as the ICC, why do we (the United States and our soldiers) have to legitimize a group that we’re not part of? It’s something that we just don’t believe in. So why would you go about proving something that you don’t believe in as legitimate? In fact, whenever the U.N. seems to want something done, whether it be a home for their offices (based on “international territory” in New York City) or taking care of worldwide issues (the multinational forces that go here, there, and everywhere at the whim of some Third World country leader), we seem to just be the stepchild who has to drop into lock-step. We need to concentrate first on the things that are affecting us and our daily lives before we go about trying to rid the world of all evils. We have issues to combat at home (disease, homelessness, crime) as well as things that we are already into at the moment around the world (stabilization of Iraq, the global war on terror — unless you want to see another 9/11. If “human rights organizations and religions groups are united in the outrage over the catastrophe,” don’t complain about it. These groups seem to bring in enough money every year to do things, so why not change some of your spending and send some of that much needed help directly to Africa? KEVIN MARCH Rotterdam
Rice: World must stop violence in Darfur region PARIS — The world has fallen down on the job of ending the violence in Sudan’s Darfur region, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday as she welcomed the fresh energy that France’s new conservative-led government has put to the cause. She called the four-year-old conflict “one of the true humanitarian disasters that we face in international politics, and one the international community has simply got to act more quickly and more responsibly to stop.” The chief U.S. diplomat was in Paris for two days of get-to-knowyou meetings with the new French government and a strategy session on Darfur. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner organized today’s conference to speed deployment of about 20,000 new peacekeeping troops to Darfur, the vast, arid region where an estimated 200,000 have died in fighting between African rebels and militias backed by the Arab-led Sudanese government. The confl ict has driven about 2.5 million from their homes. “I have seen firsthand the devastation and the difficult circumstances in which people live in Darfur, and I will be very frank,” Rice said. “I do not think that the international community has really lived up to its responsibilities there
Sudan president not to be trusted when it comes to Darfur
Though news reports of Sudan’s latest agreement to allow a United Nations-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force into Darfur seem like a positive development, there is considerable reason to be skeptical. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has failed to live up to his past commitments to the international community, including stonewalling after agreeing to this same hybrid peacekeeping force in 2006. Any regime that would bomb its own villages and kill as many as 400,000 of its own people, does not deserve the benefi t of the doubt. The violence is far from over Sudan’s air force continues to bomb villages and the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia have not relented in their horrific attacks. Just as this “positive” news came out of Sudan last week, one of the largest humanitarian aid groups in the world announced it was permanently leaving Darfur — due to continued attacks and concern for aid workers’ safety. World leaders, and especially the United States, China and France — each which have unique influence over Sudan — must increase their pressure on Sudan to make sure that this latest “promise” is fulfilled. Even if this commitment leads to the deployment of an effective peacekeeping force, the effort to save the people of Darfur will still be far from over. Still needed are: a true peace process that leads to a full peace agreement, and unhindered access for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the millions of Darfurians who rely on it to live. MARGARITA WOELFERSHEIM Ballston Lake
Sudanese gov’t to meet with rebels TRIPOLI, Libya — In an international summit Sunday to push peace in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, the Sudanese government agreed to soon meet rebel groups who thus far have refused to join peace talks. If the agreement holds, it will be an important step in relaunching a peace process that has stalled since those key rebel factions rejected the widely unpopular Darfur peace agreement struck last year. The socalled “non-signatories” will meet during the first week of August to prepare a unified position for talks with the government in late August or September. “We’ve made a serious step forward,” said Jan Eliasson, the United Nations’ special envoy for Sudan.
EU eyes mission to aid Darfur refugees BRUSSELS, Belgium — European Union nations agreed Monday to start planning for a possible 3,000-member peacekeeping mission to Chad to help provide security and aid to tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in neighboring Darfur. A meeting of EU foreign ministers said any mission had to be backed by the United Nations “with a clearly defined exit strategy” and in cooperation with the African Union, neighboring countries and humanitarian aid groups. Monday’s green light will allow EU experts to gather information and data on what countries could provide forces for the mission and allow the United Nations in New York to start drafting a resolution for it.
Softened measure rejected by Sudan UNITED NATIONS — Britain and France dropped a threat of sanctions against Sudan in a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution that would authorize an expanded peacekeeping force in Darfur, according to a revised draft circulated Tuesday. Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said the co-sponsors toned down the language in the document to try to mollify African countries that had strongly opposed a previous draft. But Sudan still rejected the softened resolution, saying it was “awful” and “ugly.” The draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, calls for the deployment of a joint U.N.-African Union force of up to 26,000 to try to stop the fighting between ethnic African rebels and pro-government janjaweed militia that has killed more than 200,000 people since 2003.
Okay...enough now...just go in using force and help those poor people. Enough already! We are talking about a third world country here. Clearly not a national security threat!
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Horrors of Sudan inspire campaign Organization battles torture in Africa BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter
When Schenectady resident Karen Shields first met Zainelabdin Eltayib Osman, at a meeting of human rights organizations, she was like most Americans: She knew little about Sudan. “Zain said, ‘I’m from the Sudan,’ and I said, ‘Where is Sudan?’” recalled Shields. “I had no idea.” Shields began researching Sudan — the war-torn country, which borders Egypt and the Red Sea, is located in northwest Africa — and what she learned shocked her. “I would call Zain up and he would say, ‘What did you find out today?’” Shields recalled. She learned about the Darfur region of the country, where ethnic warfare has killed some 200,000 people and displaced about 2.5 million more since 2003. She learned more about Osman, who was tortured so badly in Sudan while working as a human rights defender that his right side was paralyzed; he has since regained his speech and mobility on his right side at Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Schenectady. Shields now works to raise awareness about Sudan; she manages the Schenectady-based American African Foundation Against Torture, an organization founded by Osman in 1996. They help the hundreds of Sudanese families who have quietly resettled in the Capital Region, assisting with immigration paperwork and writing to politicians. When the refugees arrive in the area, “They contact Zain,” Shields said. “He’s very well known. We talk about the different avenues they should pursue, whether they should call a lawyer. People are waiting for their papers to be finalized. Many of them have had babies and are raising their children here. … There’s a lot of talking and talking, and figuring out where people can find the answers.” The American African Foundation Against Torture will team with the local branch of Amnesty International to host a benefit dinner on Oct. 20 at Friendship House on State Street in Schenectady. The food will be prepared by Sudanese women. The idea, Shields said, is to celebrate Sudanese culture and raise money for AAFAT. The group also is collecting money that will be used to purchase school supplies for Sudanese children living in refugee camps in countries such as Chad and Egypt. The group has also collected about 35 paintings by Sudanese torture victims; they will be displayed at a local gallery at some point this fall. The paintings are colorful, graphic and disturbing; they have a powerful impact when viewed as a collection, Shields said. Some of them are pictured on AAFAT postcards labeled “Forms of Torture in Sudan,” with titles such as “rape by sharp tool,” “suspension with flogging,” and “suspension from ladder.” “The government denies any of these things happened,” said Matthew Rector, an event organizer with Amnesty International who has worked closely with Osman and Shields. “By showing the paintings, we’re raising awareness of what happened.” LOCAL CONNECTION “Not many people are aware that there are hundreds of Sudanese in the Capital Region,” Rector continued. “There’s a big connection between Sudan and this area.” One of the group’s challenges is making people care about an impoverished country located on a poor continent where the news is seldom good. “It’s very disheartening when I explain to people what I’m doing, and they say, ‘But it’s Africa,’ ” Shields said. “Just as people in the U.S. are coming to understand what happened in Darfur, what happened in Darfur is now happening in other parts of Sudan,” Rector said. “It’s not always easy to get people to turn out for this stuff. But I think if people were aware there was such a strong local connection, they would step up.” Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to authorize the deployment of up to 26,000 peacekeepers to try to stop the violence in Darfur, in western Sudan. The United Nations also announced that eight rebel groups from Darfur had agreed on a common platform for peace talks with the government. Osman, 40, is in contact with Sudanese refugees all over the world, and recently returned from a trip to China, where he met with Sudanese refugees who had relocated there. “I’m trying to help refugees here and throughout the world,” he said. In Sudan, Osman spent several years in prison as a teenager, where he was tortured multiple times for protesting the repressive Islamic government that took power in 1989. He later studied at the University of Baghdad in Iraq, but was tortured so badly when he returned home to Sudan “that he was left for dead,” Shields said. He fled Sudan in 1992, spent some time in Cairo and England, where he formed the Sudanese Victims of Torture Group. Eventually he moved to Schenectady, and became a U.S. citizen. Last year Osman received a bit of a scare while volunteering at a Sudanese refugee camp in Egypt; he was swept up with thousands of refugees who were violently evicted from the camp by Egyptian security forces who had ordered them to return to Sudan. “I was trapped between the water cannons that were turned on full force from every corner of the camp,” Osman told The Gazette in 2006. “I watched children torn from their mothers’ arms, elderly [people] knocked down by the sheer force of the spray, men desperately trying to protect their families.” Although a peace agreement ending the country’s 21-year civil war, which pit Christians in the south against Muslims in the north, had just been announced, the refugees said they would be killed if they went home, and were protesting the order to return to Sudan. Shields was on the phone with Osman when the attack started; she called the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, and Osman was quickly released. Twenty-eight people were trampled or beaten to death, according to reports.
Oh come on there BK....the only thing that ever came out of France was French fries and french kissing! Well, I guess they could go over to the Sudan and feed them french fries and kiss the living hell out em'!!!
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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil, The Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.
I dont know about you, but wine makes me happy......
Gotcha!!
Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil, The Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Oh come on there BK....the only thing that ever came out of France was French fries and french kissing! Well, I guess they could go over to the Sudan and feed them french fries and kiss the living hell out em'!!!
Excus me, do you mean Freedom Fries?
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Pope, Prodi to meet Sudan leader By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Friday, September 14, 2007
ROME -- Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said Friday his government is ready to implement a cease-fire with rebel forces at the start of peace talks over the conflict in Darfur, scheduled for next month in Libya.
"We have announced we are available (to put in place) a cease-fire with the start of the negotiations to create a positive climate," al-Bashir said at a news conference following talks with Italian Premier Romano Prodi.
Al-Bashir's regime has regularly agreed to cease-fires in the past and all have been quickly breached by the parties involved in the conflict.
Later Friday, al-Bashir is expected to meet Pope Benedict XVI.
The trip is a rare, high-profile visit to Western Europe that has raised concern from human rights advocates and some politicians.
Al-Bashir, who came to power in 1989 in a coup, arrived in Rome a few weeks before the expected deployment of an international peacekeeping force to try to improve the security situation in the war-ravaged western region of Darfur.
More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been uprooted since ethnic African rebels in Darfur took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in 2003.
Sudan's government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the "janjaweed," a charge Khartoum denies.
Al-Bashir opened his talks early Friday with a meeting in Rome with Italian Premier Romano Prodi, who defended the visit as a "useful" way to press Sudan to make good on its pledges concerning Darfur.
Al-Bashir is then scheduled to have a private audience with Benedict at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
That could offer an opportunity for the pontiff to make plain his anguish over Darfur. Benedict has said the Holy See is willing to do everything possible to end what he has described as "horror" in Darfur.
The Sudanese president's trip to Italy includes "his first bilateral meeting with a European head of state for quite many years," Sudan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Sadiq said.
Al-Bashir will meet with Italy's head of state, President Giorgio Napolitano, when he returns to Rome following the talks with the pope.
"The goal of this visit is to improve the dialogue of civilizations, and the dialogue between Christianity and Islam," the spokesman said.
Sadiq said al-Bashir would explain to the pope "what steps the government is taking to alleviate the suffering of people in southern Sudan and Darfur."
But there was concern among human rights groups about what the visit would achieve.
"The human rights situation in Sudan continues to be one of the most pressing humanitarian crises in the world today, and one to which the international community has failed for far too long to provide an effective response," Amnesty International said in a statement from its European Union office.
"Against this background, Amnesty International finds it remarkable that the Italian government has decided to receive" al-Bashir.
Prodi responded to criticism by noting that the visit comes after the U.N. Security Council unanimously voted in July to deploy a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur, and after the announcement of the resumption of peace talks between the government and rebels. The visit by al-Bashir "constitutes a useful occasion to underline our common concerns and the expectations of Italy, Europe and the entire international community for the stabilization of the country and a solution to the Darfur crisis," Prodi said in a statement.
Rebel forces kill 10 peacekeepers in Darfur attack HASKANITA, Sudan — Rebel forces stormed a small African Union base in northern Darfur and killed at least 10 peacekeepers, leaving behind charred armored vehicles and bombed out barracks in an unprecedented attack on the beleaguered mission that threatened upcoming peace talks. More than 30 peacekeepers were still missing by late Sunday, indicating the death toll from the attack could rise significantly. About 1,000 rebels from the Sudan Liberation Army attacked the base outside the town of Haskanita Saturday after sunset when Muslims break their daytime fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, AU officers told The Associated Press Sunday at the scene of the attack. The rebels eventually stormed the base early Sunday, they said. The Sudanese army routed the rebels Sunday and the remaining AU peacekeepers were evacuated under the protection of the army. “This is the heaviest loss of life and the biggest attack on the African Union mission,” said AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni. “Our troops fought a defensive battle to protect the camp, but 30 vehicles eventually stormed it. . . . The camp is completely destroyed.”
By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Wednesday, October 3, 2007
KABKABIYA, Sudan -- Former President Jimmy Carter confronted Sudanese security services on a visit to Darfur Wednesday, shouting "You don't have the power to stop me!" at some who blocked him from meeting refugees of the conflict.
The 83-year-old Carter, in Darfur as part of a delegation of respected international figures known as "The Elders," wanted to visit a refugee camp. But the U.N. mission in Sudan deemed that too dangerous.
Instead, Carter agreed to fly to the World Food Program compound in the North Darfur town of Kabkabiya, where he was supposed to meet with ethnic African refugees, many of whom were chased from their homes by militias and the Arab-dominated government's forces.
But none of the refugees showed up and Carter decided to walk into the town -- a volatile stronghold of the pro-government janjaweed militia -- to meet refugees too frightened to attend the meeting at the compound.
He was able to make it to a school where he met with one tribal representative and was preparing to go further into town when Sudanese security officers stopped him.
"You can't go," the local chief of the feared Sudanese secret police, who only gave his first name as Omar, ordered Carter. "It's not on the program!"
"We're going to anyway!" an angry Carter retorted as a small crowd began to gather around. "You don't have the power to stop me."
However, U.N. officials told Carter's entourage the powerful Sudanese state police could bar his way.
"We've got to move, or someone is going to get shot," warned one of the U.N. staff accompanying the delegation.
Carter's traveling companions, billionaire businessman Richard Branson and Graca Machel, the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, tried to ease his frustration and his Secret Service detail urged him to get into a car and leave.
"I'll tell President Bashir about this," Carter said, referring to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
Omar, the security chief, said Carter had already breached security once by walking to the school and would not be allowed to breach it again.
"We are in the security field. We're not that flexible," he said after the confrontation ended.
In an interview with The Associated Press later in the day, Carter played down the encounter, saying the security chief was only doing his job.
"But it's true that I'm not accustomed to people telling me I can't walk down the street and meet people," he told the AP after returning to a United Nations compound in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.
Branson said some refugees had slipped notes in his pockets.
"We (are) still suffering from the war as our girls are being raped on a daily basis," read one of the notes, translated from Arabic, that Branson handed to the AP.
The note said that on Sept. 26, a group of girls had been raped, one of them a 10-year-old, and that a refugee had been shot two days ago. Branson said it had been handed over by an ethnic African man.
"All (refugees) living in the town of Kabkabiya are vulnerable prisoners who live under injustice and intimidation," the note also said.
For the most part, the refugees here appeared too frightened to speak to the visiting delegation. The single refugee representative Carter managed to meet at the school pleaded with an AP reporter out of earshot of Sudanese security for Carter to ensure he would not face government retaliation. Carter then went back to the man and wrote down his name, assuring him he would look out for his safety. Most of the community leaders the mission met during its two-day visit to Darfur appeared to be government-vetted, and several ethnic African delegates told AP they had been intimidated by authorities into turning down invitations from "the Elders."
"This illustrates the challenges that communities and humanitarian workers face in Darfur," said Orla Clinton, spokeswoman for the U.N. Mission in Sudan, who witnessed the incident.
More than 200,000 people have been killed since the conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur began in 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, accusing it of decades of discrimination. Sudan's government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the janjaweed -- a charge it denies.
The visit by "The Elders," which is headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureates Carter and Desmond Tutu, is largely a symbolic move by a host of respected figures to push all sides to make peace.
The group made Darfur its first mission, trying to use their influence at a crucial time in the conflict. A peacekeeping force of 26,000 United Nations and African Union troops is to begin deploying later this month while new peace talks between the government and rebels are set for the end of the month in Libya.
Tensions in Darfur are running high after rebels overran an African Union peacekeeping base in northern Darfur over the weekend, killing 10 in the deadliest attack on the beleaguered force since it arrived in the region three years ago.
Tutu led a separate group to a refugee camp in South Darfur, where he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio the joint African Union-U.N. force was needed immediately.
"It's awful that AMIS (African Mission in Sudan) should be allowed to be here when it is so inadequately equipped -- I mean they couldn't evacuate their injured from the camp after the attack because they don't have military helicopters," he said, referring to the weekend attack on the African Union base.
Carter accused the international community of neglect for taking too long to mobilize over Darfur.
"Because of Iraq, this crisis had been simmering at a lower level," he told the AP.
However, he said he disagreed with Bush and others who called the killings in Darfur a genocide.
"Rwanda was definitely a genocide; what Hitler did to the Jews was; but I don't think it's the case in Darfur," Carter said. "I think Darfur is a crime against humanity, but done on a micro scale. A dozen janjaweed attacking here and there," he said, noting many refugees have survived the violence.
"I don't think the commitment was to exterminate a whole group of people, but to chase them from their water holes and lands, killing them in the process at random," he said. "I think you can call it ethnic cleansing."
He also vowed to hold world powers to their pledge of ending this "crime against humanity."
Darfur town razed, 15,000 flee Sudanese army had control of site BY ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU The Associated Press
KHARTOUM, Sudan — A Darfur town under the control of Sudanese troops has been razed in apparent retaliation for a rebel attack on a nearby base of African peacekeepers. U.N. officials who inspected the town said Sunday that about 15,000 civilians had fl ed the area. International aid workers and U.N. offi cials dismissed claims by some rebel chiefs that 100 people had died in the North Darfur town of Haskanita. The officials said the town emptied as the army moved in Sept. 30, and troops started burning it on Wednesday. A U.N. statement did not say who set fi re to the ethnic African town but said Sudanese government forces took control after suspected Darfur rebels attacked the nearby base of African Union peacekeepers a week ago, killing 10 peacekeepers. Haskanita, “which is currently under the control of the government, was completely burned down, except for a few buildings,” said the U.N. mission to Sudan. A U.N. official who had just returned from Haskanita said it was clear that the army or its allied militias of nomad Arabs known as the janjaweed were behind it. The Arab-dominated government and the janjaweed militias are accused of regularly burning ethnic African villages as part of their counterinsurgency campaign against rebels. The official said a full army battalion of 800 troops was stationed at the entrance of the smoldering town, which was otherwise empty. “There’s absolutely no doubt the army and janjaweed did it,” the offi - cial said on condition of anonymity because the Sudanese government regularly expels observers who speak out against abuses. An Associated Press reporter saw Haskanita intact Sept. 30 when the army moved in, though plumes of smoke could already be seen rising from several nearby villages. The town had about 7,000 people, and the other thousands fled from surrounding areas, said Orla Clinton, a spokeswoman in Sudan for the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The rebel attack on the base came amid a government offensive that had been raging for two weeks in the same region. Some rebels have said the attack on the AU peacekeepers may have happened because some rebel groups suspected the AU of collaboration with Sudanese forces, something the AU sharply denies. U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said it would be up to the African Union to investigate who was behind the town’s destruction. Sudan’s government denies backing the janjaweed, who have been accused of the worst atrocities in Darfur. More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been chased from their homes since ethnic African rebels took up arms against the central government in February 2003, accusing it of discrimination.
Events target Sudan crisis First published: Tuesday, October 16, 2007
SCHENECTADY -- Local Amnesty International activists and Sudanese refugees living in the Capital Region are organizing two events Saturday to raise awareness of the crisis in Sudan.
At 2 p.m., a free discussion will be held at the Schenectady Public Library, 99 Clinton St., Schenectady. Officials and activists including Mohamed Elgadi, Group Against Torture in Sudan; Zainelabdin Eltayib Osman, American African Foundation; Matthew Kennis, Amnesty International USA; and Tamador Gibreele, a Sudanese vocalist, will talk openly about life in the African country.
A benefit dinner will follow the discussion at 7 p.m. at the Friendship House, 955 State St., Schenectady.
The benefit will feature traditional cuisine, performances by Hadi Ahmed and Gibreele, a selection of artworks by the painter Abdul Wahab Babiker Ali and a workshop on dance and henna art for attendees.
There is a $25 suggested donation for the dinner. All funds raised through the event will benefit the American African Foundation and Amnesty International's Instant Karma campaign. For information, visit http://www.timesunion.com/ communities/ai or call 810-8149 or 374-4218.
If state-sanctioned killing were an Olympic sport, Sudan would get the gold medal, hands down. For the past four years, the government there has presided over a genocide, unleashing its proxy militia, the Arab Janjaweed, to “cleanse” Sudan of black Muslims. The international community has little influence or leverage with the Sudanese government, but China, proud host of the 2008 Summer Olympics, does. It should be pressured, hard, to use it. Last spring Beijing showed signs of doing just that after two longtime Darfur activists, actress Mia Farrow and Smith College professor Eric Reeves, started referring to the upcoming games as the “Genocide Olympics.” The Chinese regime, which considers the games a coming out party for the new, hipper, economically ascendant China, responded almost immediately. A senior official was dispatched to Sudan to push the Sudanese government to accept a United Nations peacekeeping force, which it had previously refused to do. Soon after, Sudan agreed to accept a U.N. force of 20,000 to supplement the inadequate 7,000-member African Union force already there, as well as agreeing to stop supplying the Janjaweed with arms. Those arms come mostly from China, which also buys most of Sudan’s oil. But the Sudanese government has a history of bargaining in bad faith and reneging on every promise, doing just enough to buy time and avoid international sanctions. In August, Amnesty International said the government was continuing to deploy military equipment in Darfur in “breathtaking defiance” of the U.N. arms embargo. And Beijing, after its earlier display of concern, is back to its old role of uncritically supporting and defending the Sudanese government. The pictures that come from China next summer will be positive and sanitized; there will be no demonstrations. Now is the time, in the months remaining before the games, to turn up the heat on the Chinese government and the corporate sponsors of the Olympics and shame them into action. Bringing peace to Darfur would be a true example of the Olympic spirit.
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