More Die Each Minute - Tell the Prez to Take a Stand on Sudan

From Elijah E. Cummings, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus:

Dear Democrat [Ed. note: I am not a Democrat and don't let that stop you],

I am sending you this urgent message because a shocking but sadly familiar tragedy is unfolding in Africa, this time in the Darfur region of western Sudan. The United States and the international community must act now before even more innocents are slaughtered!

I ask you to stand with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, the Congressional Black Caucus and thousands of other Americans in calling for a stop to the tragic genocide in Sudan.

http://www.democraticaction.org/petitions/sudan.htm

The government in Khartoum, Sudan has actively abetted and supported the Janjaweed militia in its scorched earth policy of systematically torturing, raping, and killing thousands of innocent civilians based solely on their identity.

As many as 30,000 civilians may have been murdered and more than 1 million people have been driven off their land into unprotected camps in Sudan and neighboring Chad. The humanitarian crises caused by the fighting could produce an additional 350,000 deaths in the next nine months.

The Committee on Conscience of our own Holocaust Memorial Museum has issued a genocide warning for Darfur and several other respected human rights organizations have called this an unfolding genocide.

Click here to sign our petition calling on President Bush to take immediate action on the genocide occurring in the Sudan.

We ask President Bush to immediately take the following actions:

(1) Declare that the atrocities unfolding in Darfur, Sudan are genocide

(2) Lead an international effort to prevent further civilian deaths in Darfur;

(3) Urge the United Nations Security Council to immediately pass a resolution authorizing a peacekeeping force to facilitate emergency humanitarian assistance; and,

(4) Impose targeted sanctions, including visa bans and the freezing of assets of those in the Sudanese government, affiliated businesses, and individuals directly responsible for the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan.

A genocide in the making demands the immediate attention of our government, the United Nations, and others in the international community.

That’s why it’s so important that you sign our petition to President Bush right now:

http://www.democraticaction.org/petitions/sudan.htm

Then, help us to stop the genocide by forwarding this email on to five other friends or co-workers.

We must act now while there is time to stop further slaughter, or our country will look back on the lives lost in Darfur with the regret and shame that we felt for failing to act in Rwanda in 1994.

How many times have we heard the public outcry: "Why didn’t we stop the killings?" This is a crisis. This is an emergency. We must act now to stop the slaughter of thousands of innocent people!

Thank you