Protesters urge more British action on Darfur crisis

LONDON, May 15, 2005 (AP) — Survivors of the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and the war in Bosnia joined a protest Sunday calling for Britain to help stop violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Protesters and refugees from Darfur, Sudan lay in the street to symbolize the dead outside 10 Downing Street in central London, Monday May 2, 2005. (AP).

About 200 demonstrators held a rally near the gates of Downing Street, where Prime Minister Tony Blair lives. Some protesters unloaded a coffin symbolizing the victims of unrest in Darfur from a hearse.

Campaigners want the U.N. Security Council to provide a mandate for peace enforcement operations in Darfur, to be led by the African Union with support from wealthy nations. They want Britain to table a U.N. resolution.

“We want to highlight to the government that aid for Darfur is not enough,” said James Smith, one of the coordinators of the Protect Darfur campaign. “Securing a U.N. mandate for protection of people facing genocide in Darfur has to be a priority.”

A cease-fire between rebels and the Sudanese government has been largely ignored in past months, with violence continuing in the large area of western Sudan where the U.N. estimates 180,000 people have died since February 2003, mainly from war-induced hunger and disease.