Save Darfur Coalition Update

An Update from the Mission Committee, Who Support the Save Darfur Coalition

Imagine a militia descending on Ronceverte -- raping, murdering, and driving the surviving population out -- and then so thoroughly destroying every home, every business, and every structure that literally nothing remained.

More than 2,000 entire villages have been destroyed in Darfur. Their ghostly remains consist of scorched shells of buildings in some places to mere nothingness. More than 300,000 are dead and another 2.5 million are crowded into camps where they face starvation, disease, and further attacks. And the world continues to watch.

On July 16, 2008 the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court submitted a request for an arrest warrant for Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir, for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. On March 4, 2009 the International Criminal Court charged Bashir with seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from the slaughter of 300,000 people in Darfur, the first such indictment of a sitting head of state by the tribunal. In retaliation Bashir expelled 13 nongovernmental organizations including Médecins Sans Frontières, CARE, Oxfam Great Britain, and Save the Children, accusing them of spying for the court.

Relief groups have reported that more than one million people are without adequate food, clean water, and health care as a meningitis outbreak looms. United Nations workers remain, but Bashir said he wanted all foreign relief organizations out within a year. The Obama administration denounced the expulsions.
On March 18, 2009 the White House announced that President Obama had named Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, a Swahili-speaking retired Air Force officer who grew up in Africa as the son of missionaries, to be his special envoy to Sudan. General Gration has his work cut out for him.

In April there were rallies, discussions, and vigils held in more than 450 communities across this country, forming a constituency of conscience to honor the past and to call for action now in Darfur. In his Holocaust Day of Remembrance remarks, President Obama reflected on the atrocities we have all witnessed. He added that he has been inspired by SAVEDARFUR:

"We find cause for hope . . . in a movement to save Darfur that has 1,000 high school and college chapters in 25 countries, and brought 70,000 people to the Washington Mall -- people of every age, faith, background, and race united in common cause with their suffering brothers and sisters half a world away."

If you want to make a difference…

Keep informed and/or contribute at www.savedarfur.org
The Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of over 180 faith-based, advocacy, and human rights organizations whose mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of more than two million people in the Darfur region.

Pray, daily: Please keep the refugees, the relief workers, and all who are trying to make a difference through advocacy and diplomacy in your daily prayers. Pray for President Omar al-Bashir--that he will end the genocide! Be bold: Please pray for an immediate--and peaceful–-resolution that will end the suffering.