❧❧❧ Whatever you can do or dream, you can BEGIN IT. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Goethe ❧❧❧
❧❧❧ You were born whole, not broken. Sandra Hammel ❧❧❧
About the murder of ADAM BUSH - a Darfuri who spoke out and his consequence? Silenced by murder. Murder by the government of Sudan. Here is a text of an email from Mohamed Suleiman:
Susan, some months ago you had organized a conference call at the height of violence in Darfur. You wanted a Darfuri from the IDP camps to participate so that the audience could hear to real voice from the IDP camps. I recommended an eloquent voice that I used to speak to frequently, Adam Bush from the Hamidiya camp in Zalengi - West Darfur. You spoke with him. He is familiar Darfuri voice to Radio Dabanga and BBC. The IDPs in Zalengi area elected him as their spokesperson. Adam Bush was assassinated few days ago by GoS special forces (death squads). This is part of the "New Strategy" in Darfur: to silence the outspoken voices, especially in the camps. Some members of the Camps Council, a body formed by the IDP to organize themselves, also murdered.
I was told by a Darfuri in Darfur that the government is creating disturbance incidents and then its squad enter the camps in civilian cloths and murder leaders of the IDPs. In the incident of the assasination of Adam Bush and his colleaques, eyewitnesses said that a group of armed men in plain cloths entered the camp and headed straightforward to the leaders, murdered them, and retreated swiftly. Here on the issue from Radio Dabanga radiodabanga
Adam Bush from the Hamidiya camp in Zalengi - West Darfur - is a familiar Darfuri voice to Radio Dabanga and BBC. The IDPs in Zalengi area elected him as their spokesperson. Adam Bush was assassinated a few days ago by GoS special forces (death squads). This is part of the "New Strategy" in Darfur: to silence the outspoken voices, especially in the camps. Some members of the Camps Council, a body formed by the IDP to organize themselves, also murdered.
I was told by a Darfuri in Darfur that the government is creating disturbance incidents and then its squad enter the camps in civilian cloths and murder leaders of the IDPs. In the incident of the assasination of Adam Bush and his colleaques, eyewitnesses said that a group of armed men in plain cloths entered the camp and headed straightforward to the leaders, murdered them, and retreated swiftly. Here on the issue from Radio Dabanga: http://www.radiodabanga.org/node/3680
SalemNews—May 26, 2010 — This video smuggled out of Umsauna, South Darfur, shows government soldiers (Government of Sudan) beating and torturing innocent civilians, asking them where JEM leaders are located.
After two days of a deadly battle, fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) managed to claim Umsauna back from the GOS, 5 days ago - the town is now in their full control.
This video smuggled out of Umsauna, South Darfur, shows government soldiers (GoS) beating and torturing innocent civilians, asking them where JEM leaders are located.
After two days of a deadly battle, fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) managed to claim Umsauna back from the GOS, 5 days ago - the town is now in their full control.
On-ground sources confirmed earlier today, that the GOS 106th infantry battalion lined more than 87 vehicles and are ready roll into Umsauna tonight.
Darfur has seen a massive increase in violence.
Radio Dabanga has reported several arrests of citizens in Nyala on suspicion of belonging to rebel parties specifically JEM.
The targeted violence has many innocent families fleeing into neighboring displaced/refugee camps. These camps are already suffering extreme shortages of water and food.
A leader of the displaced people in Kalma camp in South Darfur revealed that 480 families had fled to the camp in the wake of fighting between government forces and the Justice and Equality Movement in areas of Sharq Jebel Marra, Shangil Tobayi and parts of south the railway.
The camp leader, Hussein Abu Alsharati, said that these families are living in extremely difficult conditions. He said that no one has offered to help them.
I write to you about two important issues to me personally and globally.
The oil disaster should NOT be in the hands of BP.It is unbelievable that the government did not take this problem-solving away from BP and simply make them accountable in every way, financially, legally and criminally. As much as I supported you, Mr. Obama, for President, I am that disappointed in your handling of this crisis that has been going on for five weeks.
BP and lack of proper oversight by our government agencies allowed the present disaster in the gulf and yet you have let BP be in charge of the unending oil gushing into our planet’s waters. Rep. Charlie Melancon said more how he cared today, than this administration has demonstrated since the crisis in the gulf began.
And I am also thoroughly disappointed in your lack of interest in the Darfuris situation.
Special Envoy Gration is a disaster for the Darfuri people.And yet he remains the Special Envoy.The Sudan elections were a sham and yet your administration treats them like they are just.
It is difficult to remain calm with the inaction of our representative government on both of these issues.As a human rights activist, specifically regarding genocide prevention and intervention, and even more specifically, regarding Darfur and Sudan, I am thoroughly disgusted with this administration’s lack of engagement in the Darfuris’ plight.
The attending of al-Bashir’s May 27 inauguration by Haile Menkerios of South Africa, head of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), and Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria, joint head of the African Union/UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) is inappropriate.Your silence is irrefutably wrong.And our USA acceptance of this election is obvious by how Gration speaks and behaves.It just makes me sick in my heart to watch our government continue the impotent handling of what goes on regarding the Darfuri people.
With all due respect, I would like to see you be the leader that I was led to believe you would be.
Sincerely yours,
Sandra Hammel
Use Your Voice To Stop Genocide RI
To show I am human and not spam my required words to type were:"the suffered".
You can also call or write to the President:
The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Please include your e-mail address
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
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Darfur In the News
AFP:Sudan shuts door on more peace talks with Darfur rebel group. Sudan has closed the door on peace talks with Darfur's main rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a top negotiator said Wednesday, warning that instead its leaders will be prosecuted. Presidential adviser Ghazi Atabani told reporters that the mediators in the peace talks between JEM and the Khartoum government -- Qatar, the United Nations and the African Union -- had been notified of Khartoum's decision. JEM, one of two key Darfur rebel groups, signed a framework accord in February in Doha that was hailed by the international community as a major step toward bringing peace to the region devastated by a seven-year war. But there was no final, comprehensive peace agreement by a March 15 deadline and JEM broke off from the talks that same month claiming ceasefire violations and resumed attacking government forces.
BBC:Sudan's Omar al-Bashir is sworn in as president. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been sworn into office again, following his controversial win in last month's elections. President Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Darfur. Many international leaders stayed away from the inauguration but at least five African presidents attended the event. The UN said it was sending the heads of the two UN peacekeeping missions in the country to the ceremony. Presidents from Ethiopia, Chad, Malawi, Mauritania, and Djibouti were in the audience.
Citizen-Times:2 Samaritan's Purse workers released, 1 still held in Sudan. Samaritan's Purse reports that two of three aid workers abducted in Sudan have been released. Here's the report posted on the Samaritan's Purse website Tuesday: Two Sudanese Samaritan's Purse workers abducted in the Darfur region last week have been released. A third staff member is still being held. Please continue to pray for continued safety and a quick release.
NPR:In Parts Of Sudan, Life Hasn't Changed In Centuries. In Sudan, voters are expected to return to the polls in January, when the South takes up a referendum on full independence from the North. But as the people of southern Sudan prepare to decide their future, it's necessary to acknowledge their present. For while some Southerners live in the 21st century, others are still in the 19th -- or in some cases, a biblical age.
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Statement from Darfuris in Diaspora, North America
Regarding the latest events in Darfur
May 26, 2010
We, the undersigned Darfuris in Diaspora in North America, would like to express our gravest concern regarding the suffering of our people back home in Darfur. There are numerous indicators that lead us to believe that the international community is no longer diligently seeking a just political solution to the conflict in Darfur.
Today we see the representatives of the institutions of the international community respond to the demands of the regime in Khartoum while Darfuris bleed to death in Darfur. Over a year after General Martin Agwai, the ex- head of UNAMID, said that war in Darfur is over, the Government of Khartoum continues more fierce campaigns of aerial bombings targeting civilians and water wells. Today, following elections described by the U.S. State Department as neither free nor fair, we see delegations from the United Nations, African Union, and Arab League turn a blind eye to the killings in Darfur that were inflicted recently by the Khartoum regime while they flock to Khartoum to celebrate the inauguration of the killer as president of Sudan.
We would like to summarize here in three points the danger of such indifference by the leading players of the international community:
1) The United Nations announced that it will send the two highest ranking of its officials in Sudan to represent at AlBashir’s inaugural ceremonies in Khartoum on the 27th of May. The two top U.N. officials, Haile Menkerios, head of the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), and Ibrahim Gambari, joint head of the African Union/U.N. Mission in Darfur (UNAMID, will celebrate with the killer in Khartoum while the blood of our relatives is spilled in Jebel Marrah and Jebel Moon. We, the sons and daughters of those whose blood is spilled there in Darfur, believe that the soft policy of the American Administration towards Sudan sent the wrong signal to the United Nation, African Union, Arab League, and other international bodies.
2) We believe that the first criterion of the international mediators in the Darfur conflict is to be honest brokers. The world witnessed and followed last week the unfolding events of the 19 hours standoff at the N’djamena’s airport in Chad. The leader of the Justice and Equality Movement, Dr. Khalil Ibrahim, was denied entry to the country, yet what was learned later was that the international mediators were pulling strings from Doha, capital of Qatar, to force the head of JEM to sit down for negotiation with the Government of Sudan. The government of Sudan has a great interest in signing meaningless agreements with Darfuri factions. We believe that the mediators are serving, knowingly or not, as tools to the Government of Sudan to suppress the Darfuri cause. In the last seven years we have seen the international mediators press the Darfuri factions to compromise and give up in return for nothing except seeing the suffering of their own people prolonged. Instead, the international mediators should be exerting pressure on the government of Sudan, the root cause of the problem in Darfur. The N’djamena standoff was part of a tactic to force all Darfuri leaders into capitulation. We condemn such acts of those mediators who, through such acts will only make matters worse in Darfur.
3) Albashir is an indicted war criminal. In the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on May 12th, U.S. Special Envoy Gration testified that the Obama Administration is pursuing "locally owned accountability and reconciliation mechanisms in light of the recommendations made by the African Union's high-level panel on Darfur." In Darfur we have millions of our people who have lost everything, including loved ones, to the genocide. The victims hope for nothing in this life but justice. Darfuris have no trust left in Gration since he uttered the words “remnants of genocide” in his early days on the job. Now we believe that this AU panel on Darfur is nothing more than an effort to let AlBashir off the hook.We will not, as Darfuris, accept any substitute to the ICC as a venue for justice for Darfur crimes.
CC to:
- Honorable Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton.
- Honorable U.S.Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration.
- Honorable U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon.
- Honorable The joint AU-UN mediatorDjibril Bassolé.
- Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court.
Signed by:
No Name State ةيلاولا مسلإا
1 Mohamed E. Suliman CA أُرىفٌاو ْاٍُّط خذافٌا ذّذِ
2 Mohamed Altom CA أُرىفٌاو َىرٌا ذّذِ
3 Maki Ibrahim Maki TX صاظىذ ٍىِ ُُهازتإ ٍىِ
4 Abdulrahim Khamis TX صاظىذ ضُّخ ُُدزٌاذثع
5 Kamaldine Moustapha IN أاَذٔإ ًفطصِ َٓذٌا ياّو
6 Tragi Mustafa Abutalib Canada اذٕو ةٌاطىتأ ًفطصِ ٍجازذ
7 Ismail Omar Ibrahim TX صاظىذ ُُهازتإ زّع ًُعاّطإ
8 Dr. Mohamed Hassan NE اىطازثٔ د . ٓظد ذّذِ
9 Bakri Gumaa NJ ٍظَزجىُٔ حعّج يزىت
10 Aljazoli Sharif Haroun NY نرىَىُٔ ْوراه فَزش ٌٍوشجٌا
Can you imagine Slobodan Milosevic running for president in Srebrenica? The world would have been justifiably outraged. Yesterday, however, indicted war criminal Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir visited El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. While not an official campaign appearance, the trip comes three days after Bashir received the formal presidential nomination of his party in the upcoming elections in April. It is long past due for the world - and particularly the United States - to express its grave concern about the sham electoral process that in a few months could effectively legitimize Bashir's repressive government.
This week at a campaign stop, Bashir vowed to his supporters that the elections would teach the world lessons in dedication and sacrifice. What they are really teaching the world is that a dictatorial and even genocidal regime can forgo its commitments to peace and democratic transformation without suffering any consequences. These elections did not fall from the sky, but - instead - were supposed to be a key milestone in transforming the country after decades of civil war. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) agreed to by Bashir's party and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in 2005 set a path for the Sudanese to rebuild their political institutions, economy, and society.
The death and destruction in Darfur and continued repression of political opponents by the Bashir regime over the last four years vitiated the CPA-inspired hopes that those in power in Khartoum had disavowed intimidation and violence as the chief means to resolve political differences within Sudan. But despite the lack of basic political freedoms and the insecurity that persists in Darfur, the Bashir regime now promotes these elections as a critical moment in the history of Sudan. Their strategy cannot be any clearer: use these elections to consolidate power within Sudan and re-legitimize themselves in the international community.
While Milosevic attempted to steal the Serbian elections in 2000 after a decade of bloodshed in the Balkans, he could not campaign in Srebrenica, the site of the worst massacre during the civil war because Bosnia had gained independence. In stark contrast, Bashir's visit to Darfur serves as a pre-election victory lap at the scene of the crime. Indeed, his regime has declared that Darfur is now safe enough for elections to take place and, if that's the case, it follows that the conflict must be over. Despite clashes this week between rebel forces and the Sudanese army, violence over the last two years has significantly diminished in Darfur. The clever 2010 election strategy though by Bashir attempts to hide the fact that 2.7 million Darfuris remain displaced, a peace agreement with the Darfuri rebels remains elusive, and Bashir and others perpetrators of war crimes remain fugitives from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes committed in Darfur.
Furthermore, The Carter Center, which will monitor the elections in April, reported last month that many Darfuris chose not the register due largely to the presence of Sudanese government armed forces at numerous registration sites, in addition to the wariness about participating in a less than free and transparent election process. A solution to Darfur in 2010 cannot emerge from the ballot box but must come from real negotiations between the Sudanese government and divided rebel movements - who also must set aside their personal and political differences to negotiate a political settlement in the best interest of the Darfuri people.
Due to the lack of a safe political environment for freely contested elections, few in Sudan doubt that Bashir will win re-election in April. The real question for Sudanese opposed to this outcome: how will the world respond? The Bashir regime believes that it can secure quiet acceptance of the results in exchange for promises that it will bring the conflict in Darfur to an end and allow the people of South Sudan a vote for secession in January 2011. In short, Khartoum is bargaining conflict management and prevention for re-legitimization in the international community. To add serious injury to this equation, Khartoum has a history of empty promises that deliver anything but the pledged outcome.
If we were not so deeply familiar with the history of conflict in Sudan, such a deal might seem plausibly adequate. Unfortunately though, accepting this offer from the Bashir regime ignores the chief drivers of conflict in Sudan for the last 50 years: the monopolization of power and wealth at the center and the marginalization of the periphery. The consequences of allowing the regime to steal the elections will not address the root causes of the conflict in Darfur or other persecuted areas of Sudan. And even if the South secedes in 2011, a re-legitimized regime in Khartoum will no doubt cause it endless troubles.
It is for all of these reasons that the international community, led by the United States, should state clearly that it will not allow these elections to change the way it views the corrupt and repressive regime in Khartoum. Of course, conflict management in Darfur and the implementation of the CPA should continue, but not under any illusion that those in Khartoum serve as a representative and reformed government of the Sudanese people.
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Bloomberg News: Southern Sudan Party Names Presidential Candidates. Southern Sudan's leader, Salva Kiir, will run for president of the semi-autonomous region instead of challenging Umar al-Bashir for the presidency of Sudan in April elections, a spokeswoman for his party said. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement, which rules Southern Sudan, named a top party official in the north, Yasser Arman, as its candidate for the Sudanese presidency, Keji Germelili, an SPLM spokeswoman, said today in a telephone interview in Khartoum, the capital.
The Economist: Sudan's coming elections-How did it come to this? ON JANUARY 11th Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's president, resigned as head of the army, as the constitution requires, in order to accept his party's nomination as its presidential candidate in a general election due in April. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the dominant party in the semi-autonomous region of south Sudan and ostensibly the main opposition party throughout the country, is set to announce its own candidate. But it is likely to be a lesser figure than its leader Salva Kiir, himself by no means charismatic. Some guess that the SPLM may not even put up a candidate against Mr Bashir at all.
Reuters: Sudan needs more funds for referendum, report says. Sudan needs more cash and support from donor countries if its national elections and a southern referendum on independence are to take place safely, the body monitoring the north-south peace deal said on Thursday. The 2005 pact ended two decades of civil war in Africa's largest country. However, its implementation has been slow, as has the delivery of almost $5 billion pledged by donors to develop the war-ravaged south. Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years are due in less than three months and a referendum is scheduled in southern Sudan next January on whether to secede from the north.
Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a backhand during a practice session ahead of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 15, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. January 14, Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images AsiaPac
...................................................... Where are these people now?
They talked good when they weren't in the position to do anything, now that they are, we have "remnants" of who they used to be.
DARFUR - WHAT IS NEEDED NOW
1) Justice now. This is a paramount demand for the Darfuris, a society torn apart by atrocities and genocide. To date (after 7 years of atrocities) not a single perpetrator is arrested or stood trial in the International Criminal Court.
2) The Government of Sudan is intending to dismantle the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps before the national elections in April 2010 - all under the disguise of the program, Voluntary Return. Leaders in the Darfuris refugee camps are intimidated, detained, and assassinated by the Sudanese Governments' Security Agents, in order to force the IDPs to desert the camps.
3) 2010 Elections in Darfur are not welcomed. This is stated by many leaders of the refugees. They (the refugees and their leaders) believe that elections under current situation would be a sham only to legitimize the rule of AlBashir and his ruling Party, the National Congress Party (NCP).
4) Still the humanitarian aid is not to the level of providing decent living conditions in many refugee camps.
..................................................... Stop Genocide Now
Use Your Voice for Justice for Darfur
GENOCIDE WILL STOP WITH US
"The Most Important Office is That of Private Citizen" Louis D. Brandeis
Where Is THIS Man? "The United States has a moral obligation anytime you see humanitarian catastrophes..We can't say 'never again' and then allow it to happen again and as President of the United States I don't intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter.” BARACK OBAMA
This is the response from my letter of March 12, 2009, which I received July 10, 2009 (actually I received this same letter from President Obama a total of three times for the seven or so letters I sent him about Darfur):
Dear Sandra Hammel:
Thank you for your letter urging action to end the genocide in Darfur. I share your outrage over the hundreds of thousands of lives lost, and the suffering of millions more. It has gone on for far too long. Bringing relief to the battered region of Darfur is a top priority for my Administration.
As President, I will build on America's efforts that I previously championed in the Senate. I led in calling for the joint African Union/United Nations peacekeeping force now on the ground, and insisted on comprehensive sanctions against the Khartoum government. Going forward, my Administration will continue this work with unstinting resolve to end the genocide.
In my discussions with other nations, I will work to ensure that tough sanctions on the Khartoum government continue as a part of a growing global effort involving our allies, interested countries, and other multilateral institutions. It is equally critical that we focus on the civilians who are in dire need of life-saving assistance. I will work with Congress to provide necessary humanitarian aid because America must lead with our words and our actions.
Thank you again for expressing your concern about this human catastrophe we are working hard to address. It is very encouraging to hear from Americans like you who act not on self-interest, but on a moral imperative. Our action and leadership will demonstrate who we are as a Nation and as a people.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
From a speech I gave when George Bush was our President...
...still relevant today
...when Barack Obama is President
Darfur
Our being silent is used as a tool in the arsenal of Bashir.
Genocide in our time
MUST Be Noticed,
Must be Reported by our media,
Must have the leaders of free nations use their political clout
To End the Darfur Genocide
And actually put some meaning to the words
Never Again
Words we love to use
At the languishing end of each genocide that this planet has hosted.
There has been no acceptable genocide.
Complicity is not a policy.
Complicity comes from a lack of will.
It comes from an administration that has lost its moral compass.
It comes from a world too wrapped up in its self-importance to stop and contemplate
just what human disaster will we condemn, if not genocide.
Choosing to live in a world where it is okay to murder, torture, rape and starve to death a group of human beings truthfully
means we live in a world with a moral vacuum.
Just exactly when is genocide not okay with us?
Just exactly which ethnic group of people can genocide be used to rid the earth of them
andjust exactly which group of people can we turn our backs on and the definition of genocide fits our values?
A Moral Nation Needs to Stand Up for Right
And Know that Genocide flourishes when there is no accountability.
Stopping Genocide is a Choice.
What does it say about us If We Choose to Allow Darfuri families to live this 5th (March 2010 will be 7 years) year of genocide as a way of every day life?
Where there is a Will there is Always a Way
Where there is No Will there is Never a Way
One voice won’t stop a genocide, but that is no excuse to be silent.
Speech given April 28, 2007 in Newport, Rhode Island.
- The Special Envoy of the President of U.S.A., General Scott Gration, visited IDP camp in Kass area (West Darfur). He met with some refugees in the camp. A leader said to Radio Dabanga that the American Special Envoy asked them to return to their original villages and catch up with the rainy season to farm their lands. The refugees told the Special Envoy that the janjaweed who drove them from their villages are still there occupying their lands, the Leader told Radio Dabanga.
- In Kalma the day before ( Saturday 18th), Gration heard the same message. From Sudan Tribune:
Darfur IDPs tell US envoy no peace without security Tuesday 21 July 2009 04:30.
July 20, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur internally displaced persons (IDPs) told the US envoy to Sudan they consider peace in Darfur could not be achieved without a lasting solution for the security issue.
Scott Gration who is visiting Sudan currently, met with 48 IDPs representatives of Darfur camps in Kalma on Saturday July 18. The US official sought to hear their claims and points of view on the Doha peace process.
According to the UN estimations there are some 2.7 million residents in Darfur camps who fled their homes after indiscriminate attacks breaching the laws of war by the pro-government militias.
"We told him (Gration) that as long as these militias are not disarmed there would be no peace in Darfur even if a peace agreement is concluded because we are not sure they would lay down their arms after peace," said Hussein Abu Sharati, the IDPs spokesperson.
Since the end of the nineties, the increasing attacks by the armed militias against the farmers triggered the affected people to accuse the government of supporting the janjaweed attacks and decided to hold arms against government in 2003.
The founder of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) Abdel Wahid Al-Nur who defends the IDPs position and refuses to take part at Doha talks before the disarmament of the government backed militias is seen by the displaced as their unique representative.
Hussein said that Gration asked them about their positions and demands for the peace talks.
"The IDPs delegates told him the government is negotiating with movements that do not represent us and not mainly concerned by our demands," said Abu Saharti.
"We also stressed the need to see the expelled aid groups back in Darfur and we particularly insisted on MSF’s return because they were taking care of the health of our people." However we also welcomed the arrival of new US NGOs because we need more than 13 aid groups," he added.
Following the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against President Omer Al-Bashir, the Sudanese government evicted 13 aid groups and banned two Sudanese NGOs in Darfur. The decision affected the humanitarian situation but Khartoum pledges to allow new US aid groups to replace them.
Earl Gast Acting Administrator for Africa U.S. Agency for International Development Washington, DC
PANEL 2: The Honorable David Shinn Adjunct Professor Elliott School of International Affairs The George Washington University Washington, DC Mohammed Ahmed Eisa, M.D. Physician 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureate Sudan Organization for Rights and Peace-Building Washington, D.C
Contact information:
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-6225
Music: "Hey World, Don't Give Up" - by Michael Franti & Spearhead
Lyrics
Tell me why the grass was greener Years ago I swear it used to grow here But no more here Tell me why on this hill All the birds they used to come to fly here Come to die here
And tell me why I need to know Sometimes I wish i didn't have to know All you've shown me
Hey world what you say? Should I stick around for another day or two? Don't give up on me, I won't give up on you Just believe in me like I believe in you
Tell me why on the corner All the kids that used to come to run here Load their guns here And tell me why it's OK to kill in the name of the Gods we pray Tell me who said it's OK to die in the name of the lies we say Tell me why there's child soldiers Tell me why they closed the borders Tell me how to fight disease and Tell me now, won't you please The only thing I want to do Is to be in the arms of someone who believes in me Like I believe in you
And I say Hey world what you say? Should I stick around for another day? Hey world what you say? Should I stick around for another day? Hey world what you say? Should I stick around for another day or two? Don't give up on me, I won't give up
And I try, I try, I try, I try I try, I try, I try, I try For you Don't give up on me
And I cry, I cry, I cry, I cry I cry, I cry, I cry, I cry For you Just believe in me like I believe
Hey world what you say?
Should I stick around for another day? Hey world what you say? Should I stick around for another day or two? Don't give up on me, I won't give up on you Just believe in me like I believe in you Don't give up on me
On April 8, 2009, it was reported that General Scott Gration, the US Special Envoy to Sudan, proposed a resolution to fill the gap left by the Government of Sudan's decision to expel 16 aid groups from Darfur. The purpose of this blog is to provide daily updates on how Darfuri lives are affected as they wait for aid to be restored.
Updates and comments about the crisis are provided by Mohamed Suleiman, a US-based Darfuri with a broad network of Darfuri contacts from the Diaspora and from IDP camps in Sudan and refugee camps in Chad.
- A leader in the Internal Displaced People (IDP) camp of Kassab (North Darfur) said the camp is facing serious living conditions. He told Radio Dabanga that there is acute shortage in food and shelter materials. He added that for 70 days they have not recieved any food supplies and last time they received shelter material and tents was 6 months ago. He further said the national NGOs came one time since the expulsion of the 13 NGOs and never came back.
- Refugees from the village of Shattayah (West Darfur) who are now in IDP camps in Kass ( West Darfur) said the Government of Sudan (GoS) is lying about their voluntary return to their original villages. Two women and a man spoke to Radio Dabanga and said that they heard Radio Omdurman ( GoS state radio) saying that the Shattayah people are back to their villages and farming their lands. The refugees said that is a propaganda from GoS to decieve the international community. They said that Shattayah now is occupied by Janjaweed (pro GoS) and their fertile lands are given to the supporters of GoS.
I love my life. I love where I live. And I am passionate about my passions. I love to dance. Necessary to live: music, piano, singing, writing, acting, painting.
I have been fighting for and supporting the arts all my adult life. Since 2004, I have been working with other activists to end the Darfur genocide.
I have traveled to Europe many times since my early twenties. Places I have been: many USA states including Hawaii, Montreal, Canada, Barbados, France, Spain, Luxembourg, England, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Germany - and have wonderful memories.
My last trip was in May - June 2013 to Spain.
I would like to travel to Europe and Kyoto, Japan.
I love the southwest where I have visited Hopi, Navajo, Zia and San Idlefonso potters.
Life is exciting and I intend to live it full-out to the end.
B.S. and M.M., both in music
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Khartoum, Sudan Stop Genocide Time
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Spain Time
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Melbourne Time
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Hawaii Time
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RAFA NADAL -BRING BACK LONG PANTS - SLEEVELESS TOPS
Double Click on Videos to Enlarge
Darfur - The Abandoned Genocide - a video by Sandra Hammel
Want to help? Call 1~800~GENOCIDE
"May I Suggest" by Susan Werner
Satchita - Playing for Change
Stand By Me ~ Playing for Change
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Genocide is not only a word,
it is crying of the whole human race.
There is nothing redeeming about being silent
when speaking up is the humane thing to do.
The honor and integrity of the human race is at stake.
