your village voice

Darfur Letter

I thought it was about time I emailed my senators about Sudan and the horrors going on there. Now, remember I'm from a red state, so both of my senators are Republicans. I had to throw in some of the "wave the flag" speech to motivate them.

Feel free to copy and paste this into one of your own letters to your senators.

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Dear Senator:

SUBJECT: DARFUR ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2005 (S. 495)

I urge your passing of the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005 (S. 495, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.495.IS:) before the end of your legislative year. This act represents an acknowledgment of the horrors in Darfur and willingness to hold the North Sudanese government to account for their atrocities.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that we as Americans stand proud against tyranny and injustice wherever it is in the world. There is no injustice greater than genocide. Genocide systematically annihilates a select group of people and reduces through its policies, the dignity of life for all people. As the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005 clearly states, "the atrocities
unfolding in Darfur, Sudan, have been and continue to be genocide."

US academic Eric Reeves estimates the Darfur death toll at 340,000 while the UN refuses to count all of the deaths with their 70,000 estimate. From the BBC reports I read, the Darfur genocide still runs unabated with the Khartoum government providing little help for relief organizations including UN agencies. Despite the government's claim to the contrary, Janjaweed marauders are still armed and decimating villages, even though Khartoum has ceased its barbaric civilian air-raids.

But the question still remains: Can the Khartoum government be trusted after destroying its own people? How long can a cease-fire last when the government despises its own citizens?

There is no doubt in my mind that the members of the Khartoum government must be held to account for their crimes against humanity. I hope the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005 is one small step in that direction. I do not understand why our government is dragging its feet after the unheeded warnings of Rwanda and Bosnia. If there ever was a loud call for regime change, this would be it. The current cease-fire between the North and South Sudan, though important, is moving the focus from genocidal accountability to stabilizing the existing criminal government.

I expect you to support the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005 as both a patriot of the United State and a citizen of the world. Genocide should never be tolerated from a nation founded in its opposition to oppression. This is the moral course of action that faces US Foreign Policy toward Sudan. I only hope we will not be too late, with the memory of the Rwanda horrors still fresh on the global conscience. Again, thank you for your support on this.

posted by the prisoner @ 1:54:00 PM