[Vision2020] Why Iraq, Why Not Sudan? (from MoveOn.org)

[Tom Hansen]

A major human tragedy is unfolding in Sudan, one that has reportedly
claimed at least 30,000 lives, and could claim up to one million
unless the world community works together, starting immediately,
to end it.

Although Secretary of State Colin Powell has been in Sudan this week,
he has yet to declare that the atrocities there constitute genocide
[1].  Such recognition would make a huge difference, catalyzing the
world community to help end the killing.  Powell should also publicly
condemn the genocide.  But so far, he has stopped short of this.

This week, on NPR, Powell said: "Why would we call it a genocide
when the genocide definition has to meet certain legal tests, and
based on what we have seen, there were some indicators but there was
certainly no full accounting of all indicators that lead to a legal
definition of genocide, and that's the advice of my lawyers..." [2]

Please call Powell today at:

  Secretary of State Colin Powell
  202-647-4000 or 202-647-6607 or 202-647-6575

  Urge him to:
  - Immediately declare the atrocities in Sudan to be "Genocide"; and
  - Publicly condemn them.

Please also call your Senators and Representative:

  Senator Larry Craig
  Washington, DC: 202-224-2752

  Senator Michael D. Crapo
  Washington, DC: 202-224-6142

  Congressman C. L. Otter
  Washington, DC: 202-225-6611

Urge them to demand that the United States recognize the genocide and
condemn it.

Please let us know you're calling, at:

http://www.moveon.org/callpowell.html?id=3039-1614596-.oEtQD4GFfiwqnGPVRgGhQ

Sudan's government is orchestrating a genocide against people
living in the country's Darfur region, who have challenged the
government's authoritarian rule.  In addition to tens of thousands of
killings, there is widespread rape, and poisoning of water systems.
Up to one million people have reportedly been displaced from their
homes.  Andrew Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International
Development says, "if nothing changes we will have one million
casualties.  If things improve we can get it down to about 300,000
deaths." [3]

More than 130 countries are obligated by the 1948 Genocide Convention
to prevent and punish such crimes against humanity.  So even if the
United States sends no troops to Sudan, formally recognizing the
genocide would enable the U.N. security council to authorize other
countries, like Germany, France, and Spain, which don't have troops
to Iraq, to help stop the killing in Sudan.

We could also take another simple step, and publicly condemn the
genocide.  This would send a powerful signal that the world is
watching, not looking the other way.  "Genocide is still calibrated to
the international reaction," writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York
Times.

Whenever genocide has occurred before, the world community has vowed,
"never again."  Yet today, it is happening again.

The Bush administration is failing so show leadership on Sudan.  Is
President Bush now so preoccupied with Iraq that his administration is
incapable of action on emergent issues of the day?  Sadly, the answer
appears so far to be yes.

Please help stop this genocide, by making your calls today.

Sincerely,

- Carrie, Joan, Lee, Noah, Peter, and Wes
  The MoveOn.org team
  Friday, July 2nd, 2004

P.S.:

A photo gallery depicting the situation is at:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5305166/site/newsweek/

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has written a moving series
of columns from Sudan, many of them focusing on the personal experiences
of a young woman there named Magboula.  You can read them at:

1. "Dare We Call It Genocide?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/opinion/16KRIS.html
(Archived and available for purchase)

2. "Sudan's Final Solution"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/opinion/19KRIS.html
(Archived and available for purchase)

3. "Magboula's Brush With Genocide"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/23/opinion/23KRIS.html
(Archived and available for purchase)

4. "Dithering as Others Die"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/opinion/26KRIS.html

Newspapers everywhere are calling for action:

The Washington Post: "As Genocide Unfolds"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54947-2004Jun19.html

The New York Times: Time for Action on Sudan
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/opinion/18FRI1.html?th
(Archived and available for purchase)

Calls for action from newspapers throughout the country have been
compiled by the Center for American Progress, at:
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=97645

Footnotes:

[1] Genocide is commonly defined as "the systematic and planned
extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic
group."  - Dictionary.com

The formal definition of genocide, under the United Nations'
1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, is:

  "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in
  whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,
  as such:

  (a) Killing members of the group;

  (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

  (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
  calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in
  part;

  (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

  (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Source: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm

[2] http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3057010

[3] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5288549/