MARCHING FOR DARFUR

Rabbi Joel Soffin is the religious leader of Temple Shalom in Succasunna New Jersey. Sunday, the rabbi, led a march around the Morristown, NJ, Green, marking each of seven laps with the blast of a shofar. The rabbi led this march because he said he could no longer stand and do nothing – not while knowing that almost a half-million people have been killed in the Darfur region of Sudan and that there has been little to no international response.

"This is a genocide,” said Soffin. "The Jewish people suffered a genocide during the Holocaust, and we can not stand by and let it happen to someone else."

The temple was joined in the march organizing by the Morris County Human Relations Commission and the United Jewish Communities of Metro West NJ.

Abdelbagy Abushanab, president of the Newark-based Darfur Rehabilitation Project was forced to flee Sudan in 1992 because of his political activities. He told the marchers that two of his sisters and their five children have been missing since the conflict began about two years ago. He has been unable to find them in refugee camps. "Before we leave here today, many women will be raped and many children will die because of disease, starvation and raiding supported by the government of Sudan," he said.

Those who attended the rally said they have been disturbed by the lack of attention to the crisis.

"We have news every night about Paris Hilton's every movement, but no news about this genocide involving 1.3 million people," said David Schwartz, 50, of Randolph. Schwartz of Randolph, NJ, and an adjunct professor at Kean University who teaches about the Holocaust, said the United States has a pattern of remaining silent in the face of genocide, such as during World War II and in Rwanda. "I can't be silent and allow this to happen again," he said.

Likewise, 16-year-old Arielle Wisotsky said she was alarmed by how nothing was being done in the United States to help the Darfur people. She and two friends decided to start a nonprofit foundation to raise money to send to organizations such as Doctors Without Borders.

The Bernards teen, along with Millburn brothers David and Eric Messinger, created Help Darfur Now this fall. "No one was paying attention and I just wanted to do something," said Arielle, whose grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. "This is a systemized killing of a whole group of people -- it's no different from the Holocaust."

Just last week Human Rights Watch (HRW) sent a letter to U.S.Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick On Darfur. The letter read,

Dear Mr. Zoellick,

We are pleased that you are going to Sudan and hope that your visit will bring renewed attention to the continuing crisis in Darfur.

As you know, the security situation in Darfur has deteriorated in the past two months. This is partly due to political posturing by armed groups related to the Abuja negotiations, and is also linked to seasonal livestock migration and banditry.

However, the most significant perpetrators of armed violence against civilians remain the government-backed "Janjaweed" militias, many of whom continue to operate with the full support of, and sometimes in coordinated operations with, the Sudanese government. Human Rights Watch has also noted a recent increase in reports of abuses by rebel groups, including continuing abductions of civilians, use of children as combatants and attacks on humanitarian convoys.

As a result, the lessening of active hostilities between the warring parties in the past year has not translated into any significant improvement in protection for civilians. More than two million displaced people remain confined to camps and other locations, unable to return to their rural homes due to continuing insecurity and the impunity from prosecution of the government-backed militias. More than three million people are wholly or partly dependent on international relief aid which is increasingly threatened by banditry as well as targeted attacks on humanitarian convoys.

Improved security and protection of civilians is essential and urgently needed. The Sudanese government has utterly failed in its responsibility to protect civilians. Even worse, it continues to commit armed attacks and arbitrary detentions against the civilian populations of those communities that share the same ethnicity as the rebel forces. Despite repeated demands from the international community, including the UN Security Council, and pledges from the Sudanese government, there has been no serious action by the Sudanese government to disarm its militias, end impunity or support the African Union’s efforts to protect civilians. We are disappointed that the UN Security Council has done so little to follow up on the government’s failures to adhere to its commitments.

Taking these steps would have important positive effects on the situation in Darfur.

Instead the Sudanese government continues to pursue policies that consolidate the "ethnic cleansing" for which it is responsible and that encourage government-backed groups to commit further, more brazen, abuses.

While some of the most recent dramatic attacks on civilians have been publicized, there are many more attacks on a daily basis that are not publicly reported.

There is an urgent need for the international community-and the U.S. government in particular-to do more to protect civilians from further violence. This is particularly important given the commitment made by member states at the recent UN Global Summit to the "responsibility to protect." In the long-term, the international community must ensure that ethnic cleansing is reversed by safeguarding the right of return of displaced persons to their land and providing compensation and other redress to the victims.

If ethnic cleansing is to be reversed, the U. S. government and the international community must unequivocally signal to the Sudanese leadership that its actions in Darfur are unacceptable and that there will be serious consequences for its failure to meet its responsibilities towards its citizens. It is vital that the U.S. government take a leading role by reiterating to Sudanese policymakers that there will be no removal of bilateral U.S. sanctions on Sudan until significant improvements in Darfur, including the reversal of ethnic cleansing, are underway.

The African Union’s mission in Darfur has had some effect in preventing abuses against civilians in the areas where it has deployed, but further efforts, including additional troops and equipment and a more aggressive interpretation of the mission’s mandate are required if civilians are to be adequately protected. The U.S. should therefore urge the African Union to expedite the deployment of the remaining forces and equipment planned within the current AMIS operation. Human Rights Watch is concerned by the report that $50 million for AMIS was recently cut from the foreign operations spending bill. Along with the European Union and other donors the US should ensure that the funding needs of the existing operation and any further expansion of AMIS are met.

Human Rights Watch urges the United States to take the following actions:

Call on the Sudanese government to fully cooperate with and facilitate the African Union mission in Sudan (AMIS) including through: supporting the deployment of an enhanced AMIS presence of military personnel and civilian police; expediting clearance for armored personnel carriers and other equipment and supplies requested by AMIS; and, supporting enhanced protection of civilians including proactive patrolling and, where necessary, robust use of force by the AMIS forces.

Call on the rebel movements to immediately cease human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law against civilians including abductions, use of children within their forces, looting of civilian livestock and property, and attacks on humanitarian convoys.

Urge AMIS to proactively interpret its mandate to protect civilians and expedite the full deployment of all 6,171 military personnel, 1,560 civilian police and equipment within the current AMIS-II (Enhanced) operation.

Support an immediate and substantial expansion of the AMIS force by providing as needed increased logistical and financial support and expertise. Support AU requests for additional AMIS troops and civilian police, as well as requests for greater policing powers. Ensure that US-funded contractors providing infrastructure to the AMIS force (such as accommodation) meet their objectives in a timely way.

Strongly and publicly urge the Sudanese government to:

+ immediately cease all violations of human rights and humanitarian law, including direct attacks on civilians and the civilian population;

+ cease all "hostile military overflights" in line with previous commitments and permit AMIS to monitor aerial movements;

+ cease providing arms and logistical, financial and other support to all militia groups and cooperate with AMIS and relevant UN agencies in preparing a disarmament plan;

+ disband all Popular Defense Forces and other paramilitary groups, whether under army supervision or not, and deploy only adequately trained units of the Sudanese government armed forces in Darfur;

+ suspend from official duty, investigate and fully prosecute all civilian and military personnel, including government officials, military commanders and militia leaders, implicated for individual or command responsibility for serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Darfur;

+ establish an internationally monitored compensation fund for victims of human rights violations and war crimes in Darfur;

+ fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court by providing full, unimpeded access and facilitation of court staff.

On your return to the U.S., we urge you to ensure that the U.S. government plays a lead role at the UN Security Council in producing a resolution to this effect.
Regarding the current sanctions regime proposed by U.N. Security Council resolution 1591, we also hope that the U.S. will play a leading role in implementing this resolution despite divisions among the Security Council members. We urge the United States to:

Ensure that the recommendations of the Sanctions Committee Panel of Experts are promptly implemented by the Sanctions Committee of the Security Council and that penalties are immediately placed on those individuals identified as violating resolution 1591.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We hope to meet with you and your staff to discuss these issues in further detail.Sources: Daily Record (Morris County, NJ), Asbury Park Press (New Jersey), International Justice Tribune, Sudan Tribune