NEW YORK, June 10 (AScribe Newswire) -- As early as March, humanitarian organizations were issuing warnings of ethnic cleansing and declaring that the world's greatest humanitarian crisis today is in Darfur, Sudan. Yet these warnings continue to be ignored by most of the mainstream media and Americans remain virtually unaware.
As a 20-year civil war in the south of Sudan that has taken two million Sudanese lives precariously comes to a close, government-backed militias known as Janjaweed are engaging in campaigns to wipe out and displace communities of African tribal farmers in a region called Darfur in northwestern Sudan.
Villages are being razed, women and girls are systematically raped, and food and water supplies are being specifically targeted and destroyed. As many as two million civilians have fled their homes due to the escalation of violence; 200,000 have crossed the border into Chad, but most are internally displaced within Darfur.
In April, at a time when the Jewish community was commemorating Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust Memorial Day, and the world was observing the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide of the ethnic Tutsi minority, American Jewish World Service (AJWS), a non-sectarian international development and relief organization, began a spirited campaign to raise awareness and funds for the people of Darfur.
Ruth Messinger, president of AJWS, stated, "As Jews who know firsthand the consequences of silence from the international community, we have an increased moral obligation to respond to crimes against humanity, regardless of the ethnicity or religion of the people being victimized. I believe that as the American people, and particularly the Jewish community, hear about the gruesome killings and inhumane detainments in Darfur, they will, they must respond."
In April, a report by the United Nations Inter-Agency Fact Finding and Rapid Assessment Mission cited that people of the Fur tribe have been imprisoned in settlements in the town of Kailek with no access to food, water, shelter or sanitation facilities. Eighty percent of the children under five-years-old were suffering from severe malnutrition and many were dying every day.
Today, Sudarsan Raghavan, a reporter with Knight-Ridder, claims the town is completely deserted and surviving witnesses speak of horrific atrocities. He writes: "No one lives in Kailek today. Mud huts, their straw roofs gone, are empty. The red earth is scattered with pieces of women's clothing, broken pots and pans, and slippers. Charred trees stand like lone sentries protecting an ugly secret."
Those lucky enough to have fled to areas where humanitarian organizations are permitted to work are in dire need of emergency health and sanitation assistance, clean water, food and health care. According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), without humanitarian intervention all of them are at risk of dying.
"We estimate right now if we get relief in, we'll lose a third of a million people, and if we don't the death rates could be dramatically higher, approaching a million people," said Andrew Natsios, USAID chief, at a United Nations aid meeting. Furthermore, it is essential that humanitarian assistance be sent to Darfur immediately as the torrential rains could prevent aid from reaching the greatest number of people in need.
American Jewish World Service is currently providing funds to American-based international aid agencies that have gained access to many of the people in Sudan and Chad. Funds are helping to rehabilitate water sources, construct sanitation facilities, dispose of dead animals, promote health and hygiene, and provide other essential humanitarian services, including therapeutic feeding centers to care for the thousands of malnourished children. Donations can be sent to: American Jewish World Service, Sudan Emergency, 45 West 36th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Or call 1-800-889-7146 or go to their emergency appeal on their Web site at www.ajws.org.
AJWS is also calling on Americans to apply pressure on the United States government to denounce the killings in Darfur and pressure the government of Sudan to disarm the Janjaweed militia; continue its efforts to pressure the government of Sudan to allow humanitarian aid to reach people in Darfur; stipulate that U.S. sanctions against Sudan will not be lifted until the government of Sudan takes responsibility for ending the ethnic cleansing in Darfur; and finally to insist that if the government of Sudan does not provide immediate protection for Darfurian lives at risk, the UN Security Council should call for deployment of international monitors and peacekeeping forces according to Chapter VII of the UN Charter. To participate in these advocacy efforts, visit the "Take Action" pages of www.ajws.org.
CONTACT: Ronni Strongin, American Jewish World Service, 212-273-1657, rstrongin@ajws.org
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American Jewish World Service supports more than 180
development projects in 40 countries and provides emergency
assistance when disasters strike. Whether through its work
on women's empowerment in Afghanistan, income-generation
programs in Peru, HIV/AIDS prevention in South Africa, or
community development in Ukraine, AJWS works to alleviate
poverty, hunger and disease regardless of race, religion or
nationality.
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