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| April 30, 2009 |
Day 4 is ending. Some people are interested in how I am doing, but we need to be thinking of Darfur’s people. If my hunger brings focus to where it belongs, if more people know what is happening in Darfur and will raise their voices , then what I am going through now is well worth it.
In the camps Darfuris are already experiencing food shortages; grain is stockpiled at Port Sudan but with 50% of humanitarian aid severed, the remaining aid workers are not able to deliver it to all the camps. The port is very far from Darfur. In the camps the water pumps require maintenance but with Oxfam expelled that isn't happening. Sanitation is a growing problem. Disease is stalking more than a million people.
I have received wonderful, amazing support from my family, friends, colleagues and from strangers. I am more grateful. Than I can say. And no support has been more meaningful than that of the Darfuri community here in the US.
Thank you everyone who has taken the time to come to this site.
| April 29, 2009 |
Here's a site, which, along with the 1-800-GENOCIDE number, allows you to easily find and contact your elected officials. Use it to tell the President, your Senator, and your Congressperson to find a way to get the humanitarian agencies back into Darfur or otherwise fill the gap, to vigorously pursue a process that will bring peace to Darfur and to fully fund the World Food Programme.
So many people have been asking how I am. Thank you for that. I am fine. Sometimes its hard, but I am determined and I think it has been worth it. Day one was crammed with radio and TV interviews. Good Morning America's Chris Cuomo began the segment with "Darfur is back in the news--" And at the end he read out the staggering realities. This is what I hoped for, to bring focus to Darfur. Larry King's satellite dish rolled down my dirt driveway at 8:30pm. It looked like something out of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". By then I was a little loopy. I went on the air at 9:50. I was tired and I hadn't eaten for 29 hours. I felt the enormity of the responsibility that came with the extraordinary opportunity to reach many millions of people around the world. I wanted to do my best for the Darfuris. I tried to say what they would want me to say -or what they would tell you if only they had the chance. So it was scary that my mind was muddled and swimming so. I hope to God it was OK.
Before I began this fast David Blaine (magician and endurance artist) called me. So kind of him. He told me a little about how to prepare and what to expect. He said after 6 days I wont feel hunger. He told me to drink 4 liters of water. Do you know how much water that is!
| April 28, 2009 |
http://fastdarfur.org
Tell President Obama and your elected officials to:
- Make a concerted effort to get the needed amount of aid back into Darfur for the displaced civilians.
- Complete the Sudan policy review in order to move forward with a comprehensive and coherent policy on Darfur.
- Ensure that Special Envoy Gration has the support he needs from the State Department.
- Bolster UNAMID in all ways possible.
- Bring other key players in the international community into the foreground, especially Europe (including Russia), in order to further discussions about a no-fly zone, increased sanctions, and enforcing the arms embargo.
Hunger strike. Day one
Today is the first day of my hunger strike. I have never undertaken anything remotely like this and so I have little sense of what to expect and although I have set a goal of three weeks, I really don't know how long I will be able to continue. I will be drinking lots of water.Despite the fact that for six years the world has taken no effective action to protect Darfur's people it seemed that the expulsion of the aid agencies, the severance of the lifeline to more than 4 million people would surely trigger a response. But while the US Envoy Scott Gration said, "We need to come up with creative ways immediately, and when I say immediately I mean in the next weeks, to be able to compensate (for the expelled aid agencies)", the weeks are passing and word from the camps is that people are already suffering; the water pumps at well sites are breaking down because there is no one to repair them, latrines are overflowing, food stockpiles are dwindling and there is no medical assistance. How can this be??!!
Hussein Abu Sharati, spokesman for a network of refugee-camps leaders sent a letter to President Obama. "Mr. President," Abu Sharati wrote, "We need quick and immediate intervention to save us from the imminent death:... (the expulsion of humanitarian organizations ) is the regime's final goal and the deadly blow to accelerate our death by slow motion through starvation and diseases."
Non-action is an act of acquiescence.
| April 21, 2009 |
| April 18, 2009 |
On April 27th I will begin a fast of water only in solidarity with the people of Darfur and as a personal expression of outrage at a world that is somehow able to stand by and watch innocent men, women and children needlessly die of starvation, thirst and disease.
The Darfur crisis deepened on March 4th when the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president President Omer al-Bashir for his essential role in the murder, rape, torture and displacement of millions. Al Bashir retaliated immediately by expelling thirteen key international aid agencies from Sudan, including Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, CARE, Oxfam and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) along with three highly respected Sudanese agencies.
Sudanese U.N. Ambassador Abdalhaleem claimed his government would have no problem filling in any gaps created by the expulsions. But U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes spoke honestly about the desperate realities: "We do not, as the U.N. system, the NGOs do not, and the Sudanese government does not have the capacity to replace all the activities that have been going on. This is a decision which is likely to have a major impact on millions of people in Darfur who are in need on a daily basis, of life-saving humanitarian assistance." According to the UN, as of this May more than a million people will be without food aid, medical assistance, and drinkable water.
The United Nations humanitarian agencies issued their joint plea; "The suspended NGOs account for more than half of the capacity for the aid operation in Darfur. If the life-saving assistance these agencies were providing is not restored shortly, it will have immediate, lasting and profound impacts on the well being of millions of Sudanese citizens. These organizations provide a lifeline to 4.7 million people."
I undertake this fast in the heartfelt hope that world leaders who know what is just and right will call upon the Government of Sudan to urgently readmit all of the expelled agencies or otherwise insure that the gap is filled, giving aid workers unimpeded access to the populations before they begin to die in numbers that could dwarf the Rwandan genocide. I also call upon President Obama and other leaders with influence to help build a credible peace process that can end the suffering in Darfur.
I hope human rights advocates and citizens of conscience around the world will join me in some form of fasting, even if for one day. And when I can no longer continue, I pray another will take my place, and another-- until finally there is justice and peace for Darfur's people.
Mia Farrow
| April 13, 2009 |
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123958504474112427.html>
Wall Street Journal - USA
The stories are beginning to trickle in from displaced-persons camps in Darfur: increasing hunger, epidemics and the the quietest killer -- a shortage of water in the Sahara.
The crisis is not a new one. The refrain regarding international crises is often, "If only the world knew, we would have done something." The people of Darfur know that we know. What they are waiting to find out is if we care enough to act. When the dust clears and the bodies are buried, burned or left to rot in forsaken camps, the world will mourn for what it did not do. What Darfur needs is not a future apology, but steps today that offer hope.
| April 6, 2009 |
Ronan's Op-Ed in Today's WSJ
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - COMMENTARYBeware of the U.N. Human Rights Council
Obama should be careful about lending legitimacy to bad actors.
By RONAN FARROW
April 6, 2009
Last week the Obama administration announced its intention to seek membership in a body America has for years shunned: the United Nations Human Rights Council. It is perhaps the starkest illustration yet of what officials have billed as a "new era of engagement," and was breathlessly hailed as a toppling of Bush-era isolationist tactics.
But the Human Rights Council is far from the symbol of positive engagement proponents of the decision would like it to be. Joining plunges the U.S. headlong into one of the most notorious quagmires in international politics. American officials will have to walk a razor's edge between instigating reform and legitimizing the Council's colorful, often sinister, history.
The Council's most recent session saw the body voting to end its mandate to investigate the Democratic Republic of the Congo, even as that nation lurches into ethnic bloodshed. A Pakistani resolution against "defamation of religions" passed with ease despite being universally decried by human rights groups as a thinly veiled effort to curtail freedom of expression and suppress minority sects.
The news was unsurprising for anyone familiar with the Council. The body has declined to issue a single condemnation of Sudan for its ethnic cleansing in Darfur. As fresh violence convulsed Darfur last year, the Council responded by dismissing the team of experts tasked with monitoring the region, then disregarding reports from a fact-finding mission that implicated the Sudanese government in torture, rape and mass murder.
According to Human Rights Watch, at least 26 other countries -- including China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe -- have been ignored by the Council. It has instead diverted an implausible portion of its resources to the constant, fevered condemnation of Israel: 26 of its 32 condemnations have been against that country. During its most recent session, the Council issued no fewer than five resolutions condemning Israel -- more than all its resolutions concerning other countries combined.
The recent addition of "Universal Periodic Reviews" -- compelling the Council to examine all U.N. states, not just a narrow selection of their choosing -- sparked hopes for improvement. But periodic reviews of China, Cuba and other systematic rights abusers have been farcical displays of politicized whitewashing. The Council, even U.N. Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon conceded, "has clearly not justified all the hopes that so many of us placed on it."
The Bush administration took a hard line on the Council, subjecting it to withering invectives. It even withheld America's share of the body's budget last year. That served to reinforce perceptions of American isolationism and left the Council's few reform-minded members, such as Canada, stranded.
The Obama administration's shift is a welcome step; the U.S. is overdue to apply its diplomatic weight to improve the behavior of Council members. But the merits of formal membership are less obvious. America's bid to join may represent too hasty an embrace of a body that still needs fundamental restructuring, not incremental improvements.
The U.S. is already able to flex its diplomatic muscle both behind the scenes and via a right for nonmembers to testify before the Council at will. Formally wielding a vote is unlikely to increase American influence. Because the Council is structured according to geographic bloc, America's seat will simply supplant another member of the "Western Europe and Other States" group, which already votes along almost uniformly progressive lines.
America's decision has, however, born new hope. One delegate described the atmosphere at the Council's Geneva headquarters as "electric", with young American diplomats long exiled to "lolling over coffee outside the assembly hall" now springing to action.
Officials will have to leverage that atmosphere to call for serious reform. Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., should urge that the review of Council policies by the General Assembly -- currently slated for April 2011 -- be undertaken as soon as possible. She should work to ensure that the Universal Periodic Review system, still in its infancy, be strengthened and made less politically manipulable. She should fight for expanded scrutiny of countries beyond Israel, and for specific condemnations of regimes responsible for mass atrocities, starting with Sudan.
How diligently the Obama administration pursues these goals will determine whether America will act as a catalyst for change -- or lend its imprimatur to the world's most discredited international body as it spirals destructively out of control.
Mr. Farrow, currently writing a book on America's use of proxy armies, has worked on human rights issues at the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the U.N. He is a student at Yale Law School.
Clic
| April 5, 2009 |
| April 3, 2009 |
Sixteen aid groups were forced out of Northern Sudan after the ICC arrest warrant against President Omer Al-Bashir. A government scheme to “Sudanize” the effort by sending in national aid groups and its own affiliates has been rejected by IDPs, who are refusing the government aid. The UN has also said that the government’s proposal is inadequate compared to the humanitarian arrangement before the ICC decision on March 4.
Hussein Abu Sharati, who heads a network of camp leaders claiming to represent all the refugees and diplaced Darfuri including those in eastern Chad, wrote a direct appeal to President Barack Obama. In addition to the aid issue, he called for disarming Janjaweed militias and removing occupying settlers from the lands of displaced people.
As to the stalled peace process between the rebel groups, civil society and the government, Sharati declared that the camp residents will not participate in the Arab League-backed Qatari mediation initiative, because “these countries don’t even recognize our humanity.”
The full text of the letter is below.
Darfur IDPs and Refugees Open Letter to President Obama and his Administration.
Mr. President; Obama from inside our concentrated camps in Darfur and the neighboring countries, with our different social fabric and tribes highly appreciate the due concerns of the American administrations on our crisis since it came to being. Without the American humanitarian assistance to us we would have suffered a lot. From here; we convey our warm greetings to you and your new administration and also for great American nation who put their trust on you and elected you to become their President in times where the world is filled with complicated crises. In fact we are once again very grateful for putting our cause in the top agenda of your government foreign policy; however; still a lot is needed to be done quick and now.
Mr. President, the genocidal government of Sudan burned, completely destroyed our livelihood, killed in hundreds of thousand, raped woman and children in systematically and occupied our land by the Janjaweed militias and the new settlerss. However; without International community respond that is embodied in United Nations and its NGOs and the humanity loving countries; all people of Darfur would have been eliminated on the surface of the earth long ago.
Mr. President; the Khartoum genocidal regime continues to defy the international community on Darfur so as to complete its crimes on people of Darfur whom they believe must be eliminated from the earth. Thus, the genocide master mind President Bashir on his statements continues on his adamant attitudes rejecting the settlement of the crisis. The latest is the current expulsion of the live-giving organizations of the IDPs which is the regime’s final goal and the deadly blow to accelerate our death by slow motion through starvation, malnutrition and diseases.
Mr. President we the IDPs and the refugees, constitute strong and un-deniable materials evidences against the perpetrator. Therefore; Al Bashir and his regime are doing everything in their capability to totally depopulate the traumatized citizens across entire Darfur. After the arrest warrant against Bashir was issued and supported by all peace loving nations, the Arab and Islamic nations instead work to save Bashir from ICC. These countries are those who supported Al-Bashir directly or indirectly to commit these heinous crimes against us.
Mr. President Obama, we are in very desperate and miserable conditions so we demand from you the following 1. We need quick and immediate multi-lateral or uni-lateral intervention to save us from the imminent death. 2. Unconditional return of the international NGOs expelled by the regime. 3. Verified disarmament of the Janjaweed militias to ensure the free flow of humanitarian assistances for us. 4. Remove the new settlers from our occupied lands. On the issues of political settlement for the conflict Mr. President we would like to inform you that we could not be able to sit on any negotiations table with regime that continues our killing and doesn’t respect the agreements either. Furthermore we will not engage ourselves with Qatari initiative because Qatar is one of the countries that support the perpetrator instead of standing on the side of the victims. In addition to that these countries don’t even recognize our humanity. Hence; they are not neutral to take the position of mediators.
Lastly Mr. President we are against any body or entity who trade with our names therefore we want to make crystal clear to you and your administration that; the only legitimate representative for us the IDPs and refugees in camps; is the Founder and Chairperson of Sudan Liberation Movement/ Army Mr. Abdel Wahid Mohamed Ahmed El nur the defender of our rights. Therefore; we recommend that anything concerning us must be through him.
Thanks Mr. President Obama.
Hussein Abu Sharati the Spokesman of the IDPs and Refugees in Darfur and Chad
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| April 1, 2009 |
Democratic Republic of the Congo is the scene of the deadliest conflict globally since World War II.
There are few other conflicts in the world where the link between our consumer appetites and
mass human suffering is so direct.
Most electronic companies and consumers genuinely do not appreciate the complex chain of events
that ties widespread sexual violence in Congo with the minerals that power our cell phones, laptops,
mp3 players, video games, and digital cameras.
The general use of violence against communities includes forced
labor, torture, recruitment of child soldiers, extortion, and killings by armed groups to oppress
and control civilians. In particular, sexual violence has become a tool of war and control for
the armed groups in Congo on an immense scale. The Congo war has the highest rate of violence
against women and girls in the world, and reports indicate that hundreds of thousands
have been raped, making it the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman or girl.
Sexual violence in Congo is often fueled by militias and armies warring over “conflict minerals,”
the ores that produce tin, tungsten, and tantalum—the “3 Ts”—as well as gold. Armed groups
from Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda finance themselves through the illicit conflict mineral trade
and fight over control of mines and taxation points inside Congo.-
Consumers in the United States, Europe, and Asia are the ultimate end-users of these conflict
minerals
The principal conflict minerals are:
Tin (produced from cassiterite)—
• used inside your cell phone and all electronic products as a
solder on circuit boards. The biggest use of tin worldwide is in electronic products. Congolese
armed groups earn approximately $85 million per year from trade in tin.
Tantalum (produced from “coltan”)—
• used to store electricity in capacitors in iPods, digital cam-
eras, and cell phones. Sixty-five to 80 percent of the world’s tantalum is used in electronic prod-
ucts. Congolese armed groups earn an estimated $8 million per year from trading in tantalum.
Tungsten (produced from wolframite)—
• used to make your cell phone or Blackberry vibrate.
Tungsten is a growing source of income for armed groups in Congo, with armed groups cur-
rently earning approximately $2 million annually.
Gold—
used in jewelry and as a component in electronics. Extremely valuable and easy to smuggle,
Congolese armed groups are earning between $44 million to $88 million per year from gold.
atrocities and reap large profits with impunity.
Because we are all unconsciously part of the problem in Congo, all of us can consciously become
part of the solution. Collectively, American consumers have enormous leverage over the compa-
nies from which we purchase our electronics. We can marshal that power to press them to play a
positive role to protect and empower Congo’s women.