President Obama spoke in Ghana following the G8 summit. While encouraging Africans to take responsibility for their own future, he does acknowledge that the genocide in Darfur is not simply an African problem. He calls for an international system to oppose human rights violations and help those who have suffered. He specifically spoke out against the criminality and cowardice of systematic rape.
“We must bear witness to the value of every child in Darfur and dignity of every woman in the Congo.
Mr. Obama outlined the need for democracy, opportunity, health care, and peaceful conflict resolution. For the entire speech, click here.
“The Reckoning” by Pamela Yates, follows dynamic ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team for three years across four continents as he issues arrest warrants for Lord’s Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, puts Congolese warlords on trial, shakes up the Colombian justice system, and charges Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur.
Watch the trailer below.
In this place killers go unpunished. Without justice, people have no respect for each other. If this is left unpunished, it will happen again.
This documentary was the official selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. And it premieres on PBS on Tuesday, July 14th. Check your local listings.
Omar Al-Bashir (Photo by US Navy / MC2 Jesse Awalt
The African Union (AU) has decided to denounce the International Criminal Court (ICC) for indicting Omar Al-Bashir for “crimes against humanity”. This implies that
AU members “shall not cooperate” with the court in The Hague.
Al-Bashir is free to travel to any African country without fear of arrest.
Initially Botswana and South Africa had publicly stated that they will arrest the Mr. Bashir if he travelled to their countries. However, South Africa’s stance has since changed.
“Maybe at one point, the new South African government expressed some negative views … As South Africa was part of the decision at Sirte, it implies that this means he would be able to travel there” Al-Sadiq said.
“As far as we are concerned, whenever there are meetings in the African continent, or in Arab countries, he will go there,” he added.
I am deeply disappointed by this decision. The innocent people of Darfur need the leaders of Africa to hold brutal regimes like the Sudanese government accountable and in check. They are still waiting for justice.
The decision at the African Union summit says AU members “shall not cooperate” with the court in The Hague “in the arrest and transfer of President Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan to theThe
Our next planning meeting is this Tuesday, July 7th. We’re meeting at Patty’s office in Newport Beach. Here is the address.
Patty’s office @ 6:30p
2424 SE Bristol Street, Suite 300
Newport Beach, CA 92660
We will discuss:
- Planning for our upcoming talks about Darfur in Orange County.
- Update on our political advocacy efforts with local OC Congressional Reps.
- Carl Wilken’s event in the fall.
- Gabriel, KTJ and Eric from Stop Genocide Now recently came back from the refugee camps in Chad [more]. Planning for an event featuring them.
- Move the World campaign event in Orange County in August [more].
If you’d like to get involved and help with the planning of any of these activities, we would love to have you come and attend :)
Gabriel, KTJ, Eric and Ian from Stop Genocide Now have been broadcasting from the refugee camps at the Sudan-Chad border for the last 2 weeks. Here are some of their videos from I-Act 8.
In a recent interview with The Washington Times, Sudanese Presidential advisor Gazi Salah Eldein re-emphasized the government stance that they are not the instigators of the violence in the country.
The government did not do anything unlawful. Everything was lawful. But some tribes, because of many factors… especially more nomadic tribes, they are more war-like… and by the way, you don’t have to go to the government to get weapons. The region is awash with weapons. And this is a problem for the whole of Africa…. it’s easy to get weapons.
And yet, time and time again the refugees from the violence talk about how the Janjaweed raids are preceded by the bombing by military aircraft. I don’t think any of the ‘nomadic’ tribes have access to such equipment.
U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration (Reuters)
Special envoy to Sudan, General Scott Gration does not seem to be in-sync with the US State Dept. This past Wednesday, after a series of visits with the government of Sudan, he released a statement saying
“What we see is the remnants of genocide. What we see are the consequences of genocide, the results of genocide.”
On the other hand, the Assistant Secretary of the US State Department said
“We continue to characterize the circumstances in Darfur as genocide,”
This clearly contradicts General Gration’s earlier statement. Is there room for debate? Is the situation in Darfur genocide?
Disclaimer:
All blog entries express the opinion of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of Orange County for Darfur or Living Ubuntu.
