What if 9/11 Happened Once a Month?

How would you feel? What would you do? What would you want the world to do?

That is what is happening in Darfur in Western Sudan

At this hour, the world is witnessing terrible suffering and horrible crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan, crimes my government has concluded are genocide.

From a speech by U.S. President George W. Bush, before the General Assembly of the United Nations, (September 21, 2004)

Between February 2003 and September 2004, more than 50,000 innocent civilians were arbitrarily and brutally slaughtered at the hands of the government supported Janjaweed militias. It has continued relentlessly and continues to this day.

The violence and atrocities committed against civilians, including killings, rape and the destruction of hundreds of villages, have been documented in gruesome detail. While the current conflict started with an armed rebellion against the Government of the Sudan in February 2003, most of the targeted violence resulted from a scorched-earth policy adopted by armed militias, and resulted in the forced displacement of more than 1.3 million people within Darfur and across the border to Chad

U.N. Security Counsel, S/2004/703, Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraphs 6 and 13 to 16 of Security Council resolution 1556, at 13-14 (August 30, 2004). “Ethnic cleansing” of the Fur, Zaghawa, Masalit and other black African tribes continues even as you read this.

U.S. Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell has publicly testified that the situation in Darfur amounts to genocide. Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Washington, D.C., September 9, 2004, available at http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/36042.htm last viewed September 24, 2004

What Can You Do?
If everyone did a little, then a lot would be done. The people in Darfur need you to care. Learn about this tragedy. Write to President Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Kofi Annan and support their efforts. Write your congressional representatives and urge them to support the President’s efforts to halt the genocide. Write to the Sudanese government: protest its support for the Janjaweed and urge them to do more to alleviate this crisis.

Learn More
Sudan: The Passion of the Present. This web blog contains dozens, if not hundreds of links to reports by governments and NGO’s, news stories, human rights organizations, multimedia resources and much, much more.http://www.passionofthepresent.org/