WASHINGTON—Armenian Americans are joining with human rights advocates and genocide-prevention activists from across the country in calling for decisive U.S. action to stop the Sudanese government of indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir from continuing its brutal onslaught against civilians in Darfur and South Kordofan, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Community activists nationwide are raising this urgent crisis with their local legislators, person-to-person, through phone calls, and via on-line advocacy, including through an ANCA action alert that sends pre-drafted WebMail messages to members of Congress from the ANCA website www.anca.org/action_alerts/action_disp.php?aaid=50702501.
The ANCA action alert stresses that Armenian Americans, as citizens with a direct connection to the Armenian Genocide and an enduring commitment to ending forever the cycle of genocide, bear a special responsibility to prevent atrocities all over the world. The Webmail letter echoes an earlier call by U.S. Representative Frank Wolf (R-Va.) on Obama to send former Secretary of State Colin Powell to Khartoum to personally impress upon al Bashir that he must immediately call off his military’s onslaught in Darfur, Abyei, and the South Kordofan region of central Sudan. It also outlines a number of additional steps that the administration should take, including:
- Strengthened United Nations economic, political, and diplomatic sanctions targeting Khartoum, with specific benchmarks, hard deadlines, and concrete consequences.
- Concerted efforts, in coordination with the United Nations, to ensure that humanitarian provisions—most urgently water, food, and medical supplies—are able to reach at-risk populations, including the establishment of a no-fly zone over South Kordafan.
- Expanded support for the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in South Kordafan and the African Union/UN Hybrid Operation (UNAMID) in Darfur.
The letter ends with a general call for a “clear and direct signal to Khartoum” that the United States will not reward the Sudanese regime, move toward normalization of relations with its government, or allow it to conduct business-as-usual with the international community as long as its leaders continue to defy international justice and committ war crimes and atrocities against innocent civilians in Darfur, Abyei, and South Kardofan.
Below are links to additional information.
The Armenian Weekly, June 11, 2011
Fear Pervades Nuba Mountains that Sudan Government Intent on Genocide
By Samuel Totten
www.armenianweekly.com/2011/06/11/fear-pervades-nuba-mountains/
The New York Times, June 15, 2011
Fighting Takes Ominous Turn in Central Sudan
By Jeffrey Gettleman
www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/world/africa/16sudan.html?_r=1&ref=world
Wolf Urges President To Send Colin Powell To Sudan To Salvage Peace Agreement, June 9, 2011
http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=1756
Genocide Intervention Network
Help Prevent Violence in South Kordofan
www.genocideintervention.net/campaign/help_prevent_violence_south_kordofan
Well, How about these lovely, Human Rights Advocates and Genocide Prevention Activists, call on the U.S. government to recognize the ,Armenian Genocide, first?
Did I hear , Rober,say NO WAY? OH,I’M SORRY,Bob, I FERGET ,TURKEY,IS EXCEMPT. THAT”S BECOZ ,TURKEY,IS EU AND US A-LIE. How,Silly of me.
I am proud of the ANCA for doing this. Nothing of “Armenian” interest is gained from this, but we are doing the right thing. Please, call your congressmen, and ask them to pressure the White House to prevent another genocide in Sudan.
What is the point Alex? When has this crooked greedy US government stopped any Genocide? They always step in when the killings are over, snap a few pictures of them helping the injured, and post it all over the world news. That is the United States of America!
Maybe we should start assassinating these Azeris. Make sure you give me the pen and paper when it comes time to sign up.
-too proud to give in