US black lawmakers ask Bush to intervene in Sudan to prevent ‘genocide’ in Darfur

WASHINGTON, June 23 (AFP) — US black lawmakers urged President George W. Bush’s administration to intervene militarily to prevent what they termed a “genocide” underway in Sudan’s strife-torn western region of Darfur.

“We are here today to push the international community and the Bush administration to act because a genocide is taking place,” Donald Payne, Democratic representative from New Jersey and president of the Congressional Black Caucus, told a press conference.

“We urge the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to support an immediate intervention to stop the killing,” he said. “If we fail to act a million people could die before the end of the year.”

House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said the situation in Darfur “requires immediate attention.

“We must act now to avoid more slaughter and avoid a repetition of the genocide in Rwanda 10 years ago,” she said. “This is a crisis, an emergency. We have the legal obligation under international law to act.”

Arab militias and Sudanese government troops have been blamed for a wave of killings of indigenous minority groups in Darfur since rebels rose up in February 2003, accusing Khartoum of discrimination and neglect.

The government’s response was to give the militias free rein in cracking down on the rebels. Khartoum’s proxy militia has been accused of conducting a scorched earth campaign and ethnic cleansing in Darfur, and of hampering humanitarian access to the region.

Clashes between the Sudanese army and the rebels in Darfur have killed at least 10,000 people and forced more than a million from their homes, according to UN estimates.