So my newly-semi-retired self volunteered himself on the event planning committee for SaveDarfurWashingtonState. My first meeting for that was tonight at 7:30.
There are three upcoming events we are planning:
As disorganized as this group seems right now, I'm thrilled to be jumping in. It's something to do. And it's something I care about.
And if anyone else wants to volunteer to help plan these events (i.e., run around, call people, arrange participants, sponsors, etc.) the next meeting is Tuesday, 8 August at 7 p.m. at Tully's in Wallingford. I'll drive if you'll go.
I cribbed this from a report from Physicials for Human Rights. I'm thinking maybe it will help people grok how bad the situation in Darfur is. Furawiya is a village in that region.
The timeline below was developed largely from eyewitness accounts of inhabitants from Furawiya. A variety of news accounts on Darfur and the village of Furawiya have supplemented the timeline as well.
February 2003: People in Furawiya hear news of clashes between Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebels and Government of Sudan (GOS) troops. SLA attack GOS positions in Tine and Kutum.
April 2003: The SLA attack the provincial capital of north Darfur, El Fasher. GOS commander is captured and brought to Furawiya, which is a SLA stronghold, for interrogation.
May, 2003: First aerial bombing, by GOS Antonov airplanes, of Furawiya begins and continues “almost daily” until January 2004. Many people build bomb shelters while many others flee to the hills outside of town taking with them livestock. At night, villagers occasionally return to the village.
December 2003: GOS drops an estimated 24 bombs on a large herd of animals near the three wells in the wadi in Furawiya, killing hundreds of camels, cows, sheep and goats.
January 23, 2004: Bombing of Furawiya stops.
January 29, 2004: Janjaweed militia, supported by GOS forces, attack outside of Furawiya. They come from four different directions to the village on horseback. The first attack comes at 9 a.m. SLA fighters retaliate and the Janjaweed withdraw. At 4 p.m., the GOS-supported militia arrive, supported by two GOS helicopter gunships. The Janjaweed then follow, and stay in the camp for three days. Over 40 SLA are killed in the battle.
January 30, 2004: 6:00 a.m.: Low-flying GOS Antonov bombers pass over the region of Furawiya, but uncharacteristically do not drop bombs. In the distance, people see smoke from villages south of Furawiya. The women and children of Sirkunkok, Kolkul and Hangala run into hiding in the bush, and head northwest for the road that leads to the Chad border. Older children and some villagers sent out to tend the herds are separated from families and forced to flee Southwest.
January 30, 2004: 6:00 a.m.: Low-flying GOS Antonov above bombers pass over the region of Furawiya, but uncharacteristically do not drop bombs. In the distance, people see smoke from villages south of Furawiya. The women and children of Sirkunkok, Kolkul and Hangala run into hiding in the bush, and head northwest for the road that leads to the Chad border. Older children and some villagers sent out to tend the herds were separated from families and forced to flee Southwest.
January 30, 2004: 7:30 a.m.: GOS Antonov bombers continue to fly overhead. Approximately 25 GOS technicals, Toyota Landcruisers with mounted rocket launchers, and other GOS vehicles carrying troops enter near Sirkunkok. They surround the village. Janjaweed fighters follow them on horseback and several large transport lorries. The Janjaweed ride into the mostly deserted town and capture eight people before they can flee. They loot the homes, taking any new clothing, mattresses, blankets, pots, pans and valuables they can load onto trucks to sell at nearby markets. They find safes and metal lock boxes and break them open, taking valuables and burning other documents. They set Sirkunkok on fire while four GOS tanks move in to demolish the mud brick buildings.
GOS and Janjaweed militia then head to Hangala and Kolkul, similarly encircling villages, capturing the few remaining civilians, looting and in some cases destroying the village.
January 30, 2004: 8:30 a.m.: Janjaweed and GOS troops split up and head toward Krakir in the east and toward Furawiya village. The leader of Furawiya hides up on the small mountain just east of the village, and sees the advance. They arrive in southern Furawiya village near the girls’ school. They round up a total of twenty people from each village and hold them for questioning.
A Soviet-made GOS Mirage fighter plane shoots four bombs into the region of Krakir and Furawiya. Three explode and one remains unexploded near the boys’ school in Krakir.
January 30, 2004: 10:00 am: By mid-morning, southern Furawiya is being looted, and set aflame. GOS militia surround the region while Janjaweed loot and destroy homes. The attack moves to Towaisha, a small village a few kilometers northwest of Furawiya.
January 30, 2004: 10:00 am: By mid-morning, southern Furawiya was being looted, and set aflame. GOS militia surrounded the region while Janjaweed looted and destroyed homes. The attack continues in Towaisha.
January 31: mid morning: The twenty people who had been captured by the Janjaweed and GOS are interrogated, then brought to an area near Towaisha and murdered. Their bodies are placed in a hastily dug mass grave.
Following the ground assault and almost complete evacuation of Furawiya of its villagers, the Janjaweed occupy the village for several days.
Please repost this.
So the next organization I'd like to highlight that is doing work in Darfur is Doctors Without Borders. While other groups in the region are providing a variety of services to the refugees in Darfur, this organization focuses on one thing: providing medical services. Doctors Without Borders is known internationally as Medecins Sans Frontieres. References below to MSF are actually to the same organization. Here are a few highlights from their web site (bold added by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
gkr):
The MSF team quickly organized a measles-vaccination campaign, with vaccines provided by the Ministry of Health, and distributed basic survival items. … "In spite of everything, we were able to vaccinate 700 children and distribute blankets, jerry cans and buckets, clothing, mats, and other basic items within two days," says Neuman. A drinking water distribution system was put in place during the same period.
The international medical humanitarian aid organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is launching a meningitis vaccination campaign in eastern Chad, following a recent outbreak among refugees from Sudan's Darfur region. The campaign is aimed at protecting thousands of people in the area from the highly infectious disease, which is particularly threatening in the overcrowded camps.
… Over a period of two weeks, MSF plans to vaccinate about 70,000 Sudanese refugees and local residents in and around the Bredjing and Farchana camps, and in the border town of Adré.
That's just a sample. Here's the kind of opposition Doctors Without Borders faces:
In short, no one is making it easy on them.
So here's how to donate.
So here's the incentive I will personally give to donating or helping. There are 121 people on my friends list. For every one of them that donates money to Doctors Without Borders in the next month, I'll match their donation up to $100. That could be up to $24,200 donated combined. Show me a copy of your receipt to get me to match.
Here's the second incentive: For everyone on my friends list who reposts this, I'll donate an additional $10 to Doctors without Borders. At zero cost to you. Sorry, it's not a viral payment like the Bill Gates email tracking hoax. I can't afford to donate $10 for everyone who posts a version of this. And only $10 per person, not per posting. You, however can feel free to create your own incentives to get people to re-post. Send me a link to your posting if it's not on Live Journal. (Re-posting does not need to preserve formatting....)
I want to highlight another group that is helping out in Darfur, Sudan. The International Rescue Committee has a range of programs in Darfur, including:
The IRC will deploy a gender-based violence specialist to coordinate an effective and appropriate response to violence against displaced women; future plans include opening drop-in centers for survivors. This is part of an emergency health care response and broader protection program aimed at counseling local officials on human rights issues and supporting local human rights groups.
One of the first tasks is to train human rights monitors who can interview victims and hopefully seek some sort of remedy through Sudanese legal system, the Sharia law of Islam, and the communal laws overseen by tribal elders. In all three systems, there are clear passages that deal with the safeguarding of human rights.
Well over a year has passed since the International Rescue Committee constructed a water treatment plant in the Chadian Sahel Desert, transforming the turbid, murky waters of Lake Cariari into clear, clean, drinking water. Each day now, the IRC provides water to the 30,000 refugees living in Kashuni Camp (also known as Oure Cassoni) in northeastern Chad, trucking 360,000 liters to 21 distribution points within the camp.
Informing people in the cramped and dusty camp about sanitation remains one of the most important jobs, and it is, in many ways, as challenging as making water in the desert. The IRC has trained a team of nearly 30 local sanitation workers who will spread the message of personal hygiene to the camp population.
Unlike in Darfur, where preschools are typically sturdy, brick structures, the preschools in Oure Cassoni refugee camp are simple constructions made of plastic sheeting and timber. But they are strong and withstand frequent sandstorms that whip into a furry within minutes and can last for hours or days. Blackboards, plastic mats, a table and two chairs, slates, notebooks, and water basins for hand-washing complete the sparse but functional furnishings. Toys and games have proved difficult to locate in Chad, but a shipment finally arrived last month.
That's just a sampling of what the I.R.C. does in the Darfur region. It's not just helping out there. They run an entire refugee camp in Chad, just across the Sudan-Chad border from Darfur.
You can donate money through their web site at http://www.theirc.org/donate. You can also mail a check to them (address displayed here). If you itemize deductions in the U.S., your contribution is tax-deductible.
And they put up copies of all their financial reports on the web site as well, so you can see where the money goes. Out of a total of about $160 million budget, they spent $5 million on fund raising and $10 million on administration. In other words, your money isn't going mostly to fundraisers pockets or to fat cat charity officers or directors, though a couple of the people running the group are highly paid in comparison to me. Though not in comparison to the officers of my employer. But that's a whole nother gripe.
Anyway, I think this is a highly effective group.
Nicholas Kristof's stunt of asking for money to send Bill O'Reilly to Darfur made me think of where we should send money to help with Darfur. Though I do think paying Bill O'Reilly money to go to Darfur is actually money well spent, I doubt he'll actually go. But who is there and what are they doing? There's a bunch of coordinating groups as well as agencies. I'm going to highlight one here today. Send money to them if you can.
The first once I'll highlight is the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service. Picked mostly because it's the first agency mentioned in this entry over on the now-defunct Sleepless in Sudan blog.
People: The UNHAS transports people into, around, and out of Darfur. They give priority to relief workers in the region. After that comes UN agency staff. I believe this means people conducting fact-finding. Reporters who want to cover the region can also travel there. This service is provided free to the travelers and agencies involved. However, there are restrictions on what you can bring:
A muffled explosion in the luggage compartment sent an ear-popping noise through the cabin, blowing the back of the rear seat of the small twin engined aircraft forward. Pressurised to sea level, one or more of the 13 huge watermelons in the rear locker had succumbed to 'explosive decompression' and split open.
The UNHAS transports people both with aircraft as well as by helicopter for the more inaccessible areas.
The UNHAS also performs evacuations of relief workers, both security related as well as medical.
Cargo: The UNHAS transports medical supplies, communication equipment, sanitation equipment, shelter material, water purification equipment, generators, vehicles, spare parts, and construction materials. Among other things.
Emergencies: The UNHAS has an emergency response program which will be used to transport food, workers, etc. to a region when disaster happens. It may include air drops of food or other materials.
How to donate: You can't donate online and specify the UNHAS specifically. However, the UNHAS is part of the World Food Program, and it has a donation page you can select the Darfur Crisis
from the drop-down. It doesn't appear that that is tax-deductible. If you are the itemizing type, or you want your employer to match a tax-deductible gift, you can donate to the Friends of the WFP here. You can't specifically direct it to Darfur that way, though you can note that Sudan is what you are most interested in. I should also highlight that they take Paypal donations.
You can send a check along with this form to:
US Friends of the WFP
1819 L Street NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC20036
Also, I don't know if this works with every cell phone provider, but you can send an SMS text message to donate as well:
text the word DONATE to 33133 - You will receive a confirmation message and your mobile will be charged US$1.99
Nicholas Kristof is an opinion columnist with the New York Times, for those who don't follow the pundits. His shtick is that he travels and visits the places and talks with the people involved in the topics about which he writes. Some pundits will chat with a government officials or with advocates on either side of an issue. Kristof talks with the people affected. It makes for some pretty powerful opinions sometimes.
One of his recurring topics is the plight of the downtrodden around the world. He writes more often about topics that don't get political attention far more than any other nationally prominent columnist about which I am aware. So he'll write about Darfur, or the slave trade, or prostitution and brothels in India and Thailand. Topics which rarely score points in the political debates.
However, he's gotten into a tiff with Bill O'Reilly, the Fox News host. On December 11th, Kristof pointed out in his column that (in his opinion) Fox News devotion to the war on Christmas
was a case of misplaced priorities. He didn't have a problem with wanting to keep Christmas
in place of the more inclusive holiday
. On December 18th, he again brought the topic up, pointing out that there were 58 segments about replacing Christmas with generic holidays and zero on genocide. When reaching out to people in Darfur might be more in the spirit of what Christ would have done. In particular, he challenged Bill O'Reilly to visit Darfur and to do a show on it. Granted, he also threw in some mean-spirited comments about O'Reilly, which don't seem to me to be something either in the spirit of the season or really effective at getting O'Reilly to actually pay attention to the issue.
Anyway, he's just written another column on this challenge. Although again he threw in a mean-spirited comment, he is also asking people to write to sponsorbill@gmail.com and pledge a monetary amount to send O'Reilly to Darfur. O'Reilly had complained that he needed to be in the U.S. to do his show and could not travel. Kristof's thinking is that if enough money is collected, O'Reilly could afford to set up what's needed for the show in Africa.
Yep, it's a stunt more than something realistic. Still it brings attention to the issue in Darfur. And who knows, perhaps with enough pressure O'Reilly will come around and actually do a show from Darfur. So I'm gonna publicize it. Write to sponsorbill@gmail.com and pledge a dollar or two. O'Reilly has a huge viewership, and it reaches a very different audience from those who read Kristof. Or, email O'Reilly at oreilly@foxnews.com to request that he do a show from or about Darfur. I've sent mail pledging $100. Pledge a dollar or two. Send email.
July 13, 2005
Philip A. Weiss
2301 Fairview Ave East, Apartment 107
Seattle, Washington 98102
Dear Philip:
Thank you for writing me expressing your concern about the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. I share your distress about this terrible situation; my recent trip to the Darfur region only intensified my concern about the Bush Administration's apparent unwillingness to intervene in this growing crisis.
Sudan is torn by two major conflicts. The country has been split north and south, between Muslim and Christian, for more than twenty years. The National Islamic Front (NIF) government in Khartoum has promoted this conflict, arming Muslim militias, engaging in slavery, and committing aerial attacks on civilians. This Sudanese government identifies Islam as its state religion, and it aligns itself with Islamic extremist groups including Hamas and Hezbollah. Operation Lifeline Sudan, a United Nations-coordinated relief effort, estimates that 800,000 people currently are affected by this conflict.
A second catastrophic struggle has come more recently to the attention of the international community. Ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region, in western Sudan, has pitted government-authorized Arab Muslim militias, the Janjaweed, against African Muslim settlements. The militias are attacking civilian villages, raping and murdering their citizens, and looting their possessions. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) estimates that 213,000 people have been displaced into neighboring Chad by this ongoing attempt to purge the Darfur region of non-Arabs; casualties are nearing 80,000.
In June, 2004, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan visited Sudan to assess the situation in Darfur. He visited a displaced persons camp, and learned firsthand of the unchecked human rights abuses employed by the Janjaweed to force local families from their homes. Following his visit, on July 30, 2004, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1556, a measure calling upon the Sudanese government to disarm the militias and to hold their leaders accountable for human rights violations. The government of Sudan refused to comply with Resolution 1556 and, on September 18, 2004, the Security Council passed Resolution 1564, recording that non-compliance and threatening imposition of sanctions to force compliance. In February, acting US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Charlie Snyder, visited Khartoum to promote peaceful resolution to both conflicts in Sudan, and he urged the Sudanese government to allow international relief agencies access to Darfur to assist the thousands of sick and injured persons struggling to survive the violence.
Despite these overtures, the NIF government in Khartoum has remained intractable, refusing to act against the militias terrorizing much of the Sudanese population. NIF representatives repeatedly have walked our of negotiations with UN and US diplomats, and they persistently deny the terror and suffering so evident throughout the country. Imposition of sanctions appears to be among the only interventions that will force the Sudanese government to halt the appalling human rights abuses in Darfur, and to cease its efforts to expel its African-Muslim population from their homes.
It is impossible to observe the circumstances in Sudan today and not remember that ten years ago, the international community did nothing as it watched genocide unfold in Rwanda. Once again, we are witnessing horrific attacks on innocent human beings, and the world has failed to intercede. In the absence of action by the Administration, many in the Congress are seeking avenues to intervene in Sudan. On March 2, Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey introduced the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005 (S. 495), legislation calling for United Nations sanctions against Sudan and the immediate admission of relief workers to the Darfur region. I support this legislation, including additional sanctions affecting the petroleum sector, and I will do all I can to ensure its passage. Please be assured that I will continue to monitor this issue carefully as the 109th Congress progresses, and I will keep your remarks in mind as I do so.
Again, thank you for writing.
Sincerely,
Jim McDermott
Member of Congress
PS — I have an e-mail newsletter for anyone who is interested in updates on issues and events from the U.S. Congress and the Seattle Area. To subscribe, visit my website at www.house.gove/mcdermott and click on Newsletter Signup.
2301 Fairview Ave E Apt 107
Seattle, WA 98102
Dear Representative McDermott,
Subject: The crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan
I write to you today to learn your stance on actions the United States should take to combat the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. As you know, the conflict in that region pitting the Sudanese government and associated Janjaweed militias against Darfur based rebel groups has taken thousands of lives and driven hundreds of thousands into refugee camps, becoming one of the largest international crises in years.
After World War 2, the world said “Never again” to genocide. After Rwanda, we wrung our hands and said “Never again.” Before we put ourselves in that position again, I urge you and the Congress to act speedily to implement measures that will effect change in that region. According to Thomas, the Congress’ web site, the Darfur Genocide Accountability Act of 2005 (HR 1424 IH) is currently sitting in committee. This bill would implement sanctions against the Sudanese leadership as well as authorize the President to use limited military force to enforce a no-fly zone. There are numerous other provisions which will serve to generally put the pressure on the Sudanese to establish an effective peace agreement.
I am glad to see that you co-sponsor this bill. What are the chances that this bill will make it out of committee or that it will pass? Is there anything you can do to speed the adoption of this measure? I do not believe the people of Sudan can wait six months or a year for resolution of their crisis, so any steps we can take would be more effective if taken sooner.
Thank you,
Philip A. Weiss
So let's stop talking about our own lives and the latest he-said/she-said between the Democrats and Republicans for a bit. There have been three different crises in Sudan in the last few years that I can recall. The biggest one, though it has now been eclipsed in notoriety by Darfur, has been the civil war war between the north and the south. That conflict waned over the last few years as the government and southern rebels negotiated an agreement, which they ultiimately signed this January.
The second has been an ongoing slave trade. This reprehensible practice has been one that has energize the religious right in opposition. This opposition is one reason why I am not so quick to condemn those conservatives of a religious bent. Now, one of their prominent methods for combatting slavery in Sudan is backfiring in a way that would be wholly predeictable according to any micro-economics textbook. They've raised money to purchase the freedom of slaves. In other words, the demand for slaves increased. So the suppliers of slaves increased the number of slaves they were willing to sell. Of course, since slaves can't be mined like bauxite, they are instead kidnapped from villages. In other words, rather than reducing slavery, this method is actually increasing slavery. But their hearts are in the right place even if their brains are not.
The third issues is Western Darfur. And oddly enough, the peace agreement between the north and south has only made the situation in western Darfur worse. The basic history is this: the Khartoum government has exploited most of the rest of Sudan. Several rebel groups formed in Darfur demanding control of their own destiny. Khartoum, no longer needing materiel to fight the south, has instead supported rival pro-government militias in the west. The janjaweed, as the militias are known, have air support, superiority in arms, and disregard the human rights of the people of Darfur. Essentially, they are following Sherman's scorched earth methods (though taken a few steps further). If you have a town that supports the rebels, burn it down, rape the women, and shoot the men. Predictably, many residents have fled to refugee camps in Chad and disappeared into the bush.
So, what to do about it. First thing is to remember that no one person will turn the tide. That doesn't mean doing something isn't worthwhile. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to bribe people who read this. Write your Congresscritter and ask him/er to support a specific action such as creating a no-fly zone over Darfur, sending a small contingent of troops, or prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
Most of my Seattle friends are in Jim McDermott's district. Send the letter to his district office; mail to D.C. gets delayed so they can scan it for anthrax. The address is:
Congressman Jim McDermottFor those in Tacoma, Adam Smith is the representative. His district address is:
3600 Port of Tacoma Road, Suite 106Kirkland, Shoreline, Edmonds, Lynnwood, and North Kitsap are in Jay Inslee's district 1:
21905 64th Avenue West, Suite 101And lastly, much of the east side is in Dave Reichert's district:
2737 78th Ave SE, Suite 202So here's the bribe. I'll buy a drink for anyone who shows me their copy of the response letter they get from their congressperson (including senators, whose addresses I didn't post). They almost always send back a form letter that states some kind of blurb about what the politician's stance on the issue is, and how they are oh so effectively fighting the battle. Yeah, I'm a bit cynical but the optimist in me says that if a few more people write, the pressure to do something will move up a notch. So show me the letter. Post it. Or something. Then collect your Black Orchid at the Mercury (or whatever your favorite bar is).
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