Ongoing protest, arrests at Sudan embassy in US
By Gadi Dechter
WASHINGTON, July 07, 2004 (UPI) — Chanting “Slavery plus genocide equals Sudan,” about a dozen protesters gathered Wednesday at the Sudanese Embassy for what organizers said was the third week of daily demonstrations against government-sponsored atrocities by Arab militias against blacks in the Christian south and western Darfur regions of the African nation.
The demonstrations are organized by a coalition of civil rights groups calling itself Christian Solidarity International, headed by former District of Columbia delegate the Rev. Walter Fauntroy and radio talk-show host Joe Madison.
Fauntroy and Madison were arrested at Monday’s protest for blocking the embassy entrance, as were two other demonstrators Tuesday. The protesters plan to have at least two demonstrators arrested for civil disobedience at each rally.
The activists are demanding that the United States and the United Nations formally accuse the Sudanese government of genocide, a proclamation that would intensify international pressure and pave the way for sanctions and possible military intervention.
During a visit to the African region last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell issued his strongest statement yet, saying the humanitarian disaster was “moving towards a genocidal conclusion.”
Other U.S. officials have said they are actively considering labeling the atrocities in Darfur a “genocide,” though no decision has been taken yet.
Asked recently by reporters whether the events constituted genocide, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, “The issue is not to discuss what name to give it. We all agree that serious crimes are being committed.”
The protesters at the embassy, however, said their protests would continue “indefinitely” until the genocide label was attached.
The protesters gather at noon every day at Sudan’s Embassy Row townhouse, watched by about six Secret Service police officers, and the arrests happen at about 1:30 p.m., according to Keith Silver, who described himself as a logistics coordinator of the protest effort.
“We see who feels the spirit,” Silver told United Press International. “The spirit might touch someone who wants to go” and get arrested.
Silver praised the police for their professionalism and courtesy. “We’ve had no harassment whatsoever,” he said. “They’ve gone overboard being kind and facilitating things. We’re non-violent, and they know that.”
Silver is a longtime member of the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition, the civil-rights organization co-founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and many of the other protesters also described themselves as veterans of the 1960s civil rights movement.
“I’m concerned about slavery and genocide in Sudan,” said Nate Williams, a disabled veteran from the District of Columbia, in part because “all life started in Africa.”
Willie Hankerson, a high school teacher from a Maryland suburb of Washington, said he planned on being arrested at Thursday’s rally. Demonstrations will continue, he said, “until the United Nations declares in print and in open that there is genocide being waged in Sudan. And the United States government needs to go in (to Sudan) and not be witness to another Rwandan slaughter.”
He added, “I’m antiwar, and I don’t advocate war, but I advocate military support for the people there.”
The Sudanese spokesman at the embassy was not available for comment Wednesday.
The Arab-controlled Sudanese government has been accused in two U.N. reports of aiding Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, in a campaign designed to obliterate African tribes from its western provinces. More than 30,000 black Sudanese have been killed, and 1 million others are refugees.
There have been reports of women being systematically raped, children kidnapped and used as slaves, farms burned and water sources polluted with corpses.
Two million people in the region are thought to be at risk of starvation.
Fighting between militia factions in the Darfur region has persisted despite an April 8 agreement that calls for a cease-fire, international monitoring, humanitarian access to Darfur and the disarmament of government-backed militias.
Following the recent visits by Annan and Powell, the Sudanese government ordered Monday night an end to restrictions on the movement of relief organizations.
The decrees ending the restrictions on relief work were issued by Sudanese Interior Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein in an apparent response to mounting international pressure, including a draft U.N. resolution circulated by the United States on July 1.
The resolution would impose arms and travel embargoes on the Janjaweed militia, which has attacked and destroyed African villages in Darfur. The draft sets up a sanctions committee to examine which members of the militia and other groups should be sanctioned. It also calls on the Sudanese government to fulfill its treaty obligations and disarm all militia groups in Darfur. The draft also calls for increased aid to the region and human rights monitors.
The United States is the largest contributor of humanitarian aid to Sudan, giving more than $116 million. Congress is appropriating an additional $90 million for the purpose. There are some 75 camps under international supervision now, and another 30 will come under international auspices in the next month.
U.S. State Department officials have recently said ties with Sudan will only be normalized after the Darfur situation is resolved. This despite a separate peace deal, backed by Washington, between the Sudanese government and rebels from the mainly Christian and animist south earlier this year.