Darfur activists hold protest at Sudan Embassy in Washington

– Contacts: Nikki Serapio/cell: 303-513-8307, email: [email protected]
– Martina Knee 415-221-8400/cell: 703-989-1955, email: [email protected]

January 12, 2007 (Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) –Representatives of the Sudanese community in the United States, along with Darfur grassroots activists from across the country, will hold a rally at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC to demand the immediate protection of innocent civilians in Darfur, Sudan. The action, “I Stand for a New Sudan, I Stand With Darfur” will begin at 12 Noon on Monday, January 15, 2007, the 21st annual Federal holiday celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This January also marks the 51st anniversary of Sudan’s independence.

The second phase of the 24+ hour campaign will begin at 4pm when I Stand With Darfur will pitch tents at the Sudanese Embassy, symbolizing the millions of Darfuri refugees living in camps in Sudan and neighboring Chad. More information and online registration are available at www.istandwithdarfur.org.

The campaign organizers demand the immediate deployment of an effective multinational peacekeeping presence to Darfur. They cite the U.S. government’s continuing intelligence-sharing relationship with Sudan as a primary reason for the Bush Administration’s failure to take meaningful action with respect to Darfur. While threatening Sudan with unspecified “consequences” for continuing to refuse UN peacekeepers, the White House has strengthened its friendly ties with the genocidal regime. Last month, The Economist reported that “the largest American embassy in Africa is going up [in Khartoum], which will supposedly house the biggest CIA listening post outside America. It reflects the [CIA’s] cosy relationship with the Sudanese intelligence services in the name of the ‘war on terror…’” (“Glittering Towers in a War Zone,” The Economist, December 7, 2006).

Since their independence, the people of Sudan have suffered through decades of constant violence. Two civil wars claimed the lives of over 2 million Southern Sudanese, with North-South hostilities only ending in 2005 with a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). However, since 2003, the Government of Sudan has waged a brutal genocide against its own civilians in the Western region of Darfur, not only killing over 450,000 and displacing more than 2.5 million people from their homes, but threatening the fragile peace in Southern Sudan.

The vision of a New Sudan, developed by the late Dr. John Garang, former Vice President of Sudan, cannot be realized so long as the Darfur genocide continues. In January 2005, Dr. Garang said, “The solution to the fundamental problem of Sudan is to evolve an all-inclusive Sudanese state, which we have called the New Sudan…a new political dispensation in which all Sudanese are equally stakeholders irrespective of their religion, irrespective of their race, tribe or gender.”

“On this day we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who inspired the whole world in his struggle to bring peace, justice and dignity to his country. As Darfurians living in the United States, we hope that President Bush will remember Dr. King as he takes the lead in bringing peace and justice to Sudan, where a genocide rooted in the same hatred Dr. King fought against is happening as we speak,” said Mohamed Yahya, a native of Darfur and Executive Director of the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy.

Mr. Yahya added, “Although we live in safety here, we never forget our brothers and sisters in Darfur—those who are dead and those who continue to suffer from government bombings, militia attacks, rape, disease, malnutrition, and needless death due to the prevention of humanitarian assistance by Khartoum. We urge the U.S. to place greater priority on stopping genocide than on exchanging scraps of intelligence information.”

Co-sponsors include The Sudanese Marginalized Forces Forum for Peace and Development, Africa Action, Americans Against the Darfur Genocide, Camp Darfur, Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, Dear Sudan, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, The Peace and Justice Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of LA, The San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, Stop Genocide Now, The Sudan Divestment Task Force, The ETHIC (The Essence of True Humanity Is Compassion) and UCLA Darfur Action Committee.