Action urged to avert genocide in Sudan

For the first time in its history, the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has declared a Genocide Emergency, saying that genocide is imminent or is actually happening in the Darfur region of Sudan. More than 2 million people are being affected by a campaign of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Sudanese government and its proxies against the region’s black African population.

They are in dire need of water, food, and medicine. An estimated 350,000 additional lives could be claimed within the next nine months, mainly from disease and starvation. Refugee camps in Chad are being assaulted as well.

Please appeal to our representatives in Congress that our government should publicly condemn the genocidal horrors in Darfur; pressure the government of Sudan to disarm the Janjaweed militia and to allow relief workers to deliver humanitarian aid without delay or restrictions; stipulate that previous sanctions on Sudan will not be lifted unless it takes responsibility for ending ethnic cleansing in Darfur; and protect all refugees and displaced persons seeking to return to their homes in dignity.

If the government of Sudan does not provide immediate protection for Darfurian lives at risk, the U.S. representative to the U.N. Security Council should call for deployment of international monitors and peacekeeping forces according to Chapter Vll of the U.N. Charter.

The Center for Holocaust Studies at Brookdale Community College has, as part of its mission, to be a resource for elimination of all forms of prejudice that damage our society. We ask individuals to join in helping by contacting their legislators.

For further information on the genocide or suggestions as to the means to make donations for humanitarian relief, please contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Web site (www.ushmm.org).

Dale Daniels

executive director

Jane Denny

director of education

Jack Needle

co-director

Seymour Siegler

co-director

Center for Holocaust Studies Brookdale Community College

Lincroft