Corzine pledges Darfur visit before taking office as governor
Dec 2, 2005 (NEW JERSEY) — Promising to keep speaking out against the genocide in Darfur, New Jersey Gov.-elect Jon Corzine told a multiracial coalition Tuesday he plans to visit the killing grounds and refugee camps in Sudan before he leaves his United States Senate seat.
In a half-hour speech at the Newark headquarters of the Darfur Rehabilitation Project, he pledged “to continue to place a more vigorous focus on this issue” after he takes office as governor in January.
In an impromptu address to a coalition of civil rights organizations, Holocaust educators, and Jewish community groups, Corzine said Americans must step up pressure on the Bush administration and Congress to help end the ethnic cleansing that has led to the rape and murder of some 200,000 African Muslim Darfurians and forced two million others into exile.
“It is pretty much off the radar screen, at least at the highest levels of our government,” he said. “The administration backed away in recent defense appropriations allowing for additional dollars to go to the African Union” to provide peacekeeping forces that might prevent further attacks on Darfurians by Sudanese government-sponsored militiamen.
“If this is a failed effort by the African Union, then people won’t look toward it in future efforts,” said the senator. “We are not creating a force that has credible recognition in Darfur. We are running a risk that we restart this horrific loss of life.”
He urged the House of Representatives to pass “whatever version it could” of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which was approved unanimously in the Senate – particularly the establishment of no-fly zones that would prevent Sudanese government warplanes from bombing Darfur.
Corzine’s audience, members of the NJ Coalition Responds to the Crisis in Darfur, are planning to spread consciousness-raising efforts to the state’s public schools. Corzine said that students, along with adults, could join in letter-writing campaigns to newspapers and members of Congress to pressure the federal government for more action.
“I do believe there is a key moment coming up here in the pre-Christmas period where we may be able to get some action, both on funding and trying to get the House to move on the Peace and Accountability Act. So I would hope you all throw your shoulders to it.”
He said there is a “real opportunity” between now and the resumption of the congressional session on Dec. 14 “to put as much heat on various congressional members – particularly in the House.”
But, he said, because of “tough competition for humanitarian aid” for relief of vast human tragedies, he was “very fearful that we are going to see some diminution in our ability to provide humanitarian aid.”
The senator said the chance to help rescue the people of Darfur “is a great opportunity for the president, who wants to talk about things that can enhance your image at a time when your credibility is being questioned on a whole bunch of other issues. If I were just being purely political, I would look at it as a way to have people believe in your credibility.”
Corzine said that protecting Darfurians from being killed, attacked, and driven from their homes into refugee camps could prevent exiles from someday becoming terrorists.
Abdelbagy Abushanab, president of the Darfur Rehabilitation Project, told NJ Jewish News he was grateful that Corzine decided to appear in his organization’s modest meeting room. Abushanab said he was “speechless at this point to see that Sen. Corzine becomes the governor of a state where every person we approach responds with a great open-mindedness to help us overcome this genocide.”
Charles Grossman, a Livingston attorney who serves as cochair of the Community Relations Committee of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, told NJJN he was “pleased by the fact” that while Corzine has so many things to worry about as he distances himself from national and international issues that don’t necessarily pertain to New Jersey, he still took time from his busy day to appear at the Darfur Rehabilitation Project gathering. His presence “obviously reflected his genuine interest in this issue,” said Grossman.
As she introduced Corzine to his audience, CRC associate Carolyn Fefferman quoted Abushanab as saying, “When they hear the words ?New Jersey’ in Khartoum, they tremble.”
To Corzine, she said, “I am sure that as you assume to governorship, they will continue to quake.”
The senator smiled and noted a few minutes later, “It may be that they already have that message in Khartoum, because I’m having trouble getting a visa.”
(New Jersey Jewish News)