Thousands of American march to stop Darfur killing

April 30, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — Several thousands, led by religious leaders, entertainers and politicians, marched on Sunday to urge the government to halt “genocide” in Sudan’s Darfur region.

“Darfur deserves to live. We are its only hope,” Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel told the crowd that converged on the National Mall in Washington, near the Capitol.

Other speakers at the rally included Washington’s Roman Catholic Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and actor George Clooney, who visited Darfur last week.

Beating African drums and waving posters saying “Stop Genocide Now,” the mostly white crowd had responded to a call from 160 religious, political and humanitarian organizations representing virtually all shades of U.S. opinion.

There was no immediate estimate of the size of the crowd but organizers said in advance they expected 10,000 to 15,000 people.

Smaller rallies were also taking place in 18 other U.S. cities, making this the largest public demonstration on the issue since the conflict in Darfur began three years ago.

“We know the march is not the beginning and end of it but it’s an improvement,” said Rabbi Shawn Zevit, director of outreach for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation.

“It is a show of solidarity, given the United States is one of few countries trying to exert pressure. There is momentum right now and the feeling we can influence things,” he said.

DEATH AND DISPLACEMENT

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice complained on the ABC’s television show This Week that Washington was not getting enough support from some other members of the U.N. Security Council to take more decisive action against Sudan.

“We also do need more support, frankly, from members of the international community — from China, from Russia,” she said.

Arab militia, backed by the Sudanese government, have terrorized non-Arab tribes in the region in western Sudan over the past three years, murdering and raping tens of thousands, burning villages and driving more than 2 million people into squalid camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad.

Peace talks on the conflict in Abuja, Nigeria, were facing a deadline on Sunday to reach an agreement. Mediators said there was a 50-50 chance of clinching a deal.

The United States has labeled the violence in Darfur a genocide of the mainly African Muslim tribes by the government-backed militias known as Janjaweed.

President George W. Bush on Thursday issued an executive order freezing the assets of four Sudanese deemed to have posed a threat to the peace process in Darfur. But demonstrators called on the administration to do more.

Elamin Wadi, a refugee from Darfur who came to the United States in 2004, said: “We hope to send a message to the American government and then have the American government send a message to the Sudan government,” he said.

Public pressure on Sudan has been building in recent months, with several universities and some states divesting assets from companies doing business with Sudan.

Jewish organizations had been particularly active in speaking out and some rabbis preached on the subject on Saturday. At B’nai Tzedek conservative congregation in Potomac, Maryland, just outside Washington, Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt told worshipers that Jews, as victims of the Nazi Holocaust, owed it to the world to stand up for the victims.

(Reuters)