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Thousands Expected at Sunday Washington, San Francisco 'Save Darfur' Rallies
A child displaced in southern Darfur.
Photo: Nils Carstensen-ACT/Caritas
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At Capitol Rally, Church World Service Head Calls Continuing Darfur Atrocities "A Moral Outrage"
Washington, DC -- Global humanitarian agency Church World Service executives will join with Americans and other humanitarian leaders on both coasts this Sunday (April 30) for two of the latest in a series of rallies intended to increase pressure on the U.S., United Nations, and other world bodies to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
An advocate for definitive world body intervention in the Darfur crisis since its inception, Church World Service Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough says the persisting genocide and lack of effective global response is "a moral outrage."
In Washington, a national Save Darfur Coalition rally is expected to attract several thousand protesters from cities throughout the U.S., with speakers including actor George Clooney, Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Church World Service Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough, Rwandan humanitarian Paul Rusesabagina, Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, International Crisis Group Senior Advisor John Prendergast, a variety of national interfaith leaders, members of Congress, and others. More than 160 organizations are co-sponsoring the Capitol event. (Details below)
In San Francisco, upwards of 2,000 people are expected to attend three events on Sunday, sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition. (Details below)
A third rally is also slated for Sunday in Chicago.
Sunday also marks the deadline set by the African Union and UN Security Council demanding that a peace accord be reached between the government of Sudan and two rebel groups in Darfur, after prolonged and stumbling negotiations that have been going on-and-off in Abuja, Nigeria, since 2004.
This week's U.S. rallies highlight renewed pressure at international levels being brought to bear on the government of Sudan and its Arab Janjaweed militia to cease the unremitting violence and reported atrocities against primarily black African Darfurians.
On Tuesday (April 25) the African Union proposed a peace deal for Sudan's Darfur region that would require the government to disarm its Janjaweed militias as a key step towards ending the three-year-old conflict.
On Monday, the UN Security Council voted to impose sanctions on four Sudanese nationals accused of war crimes in Darfur.
BACKGROUND:
Both rallies are part of a national "Million Voices for Darfur" campaign to generate one million postcards for delivery to President Bush, who recently pledged to push for additional UN and NATO help to protect the people of Darfur. We applaud the President's leadership, but the work is far from done. We are urging President Bush to take steps necessary to end the genocide and build a lasting peace.
Church World Service urges the following advocacy actions:
- That the U.S. government use its position in the UN Security Council to strengthen the international response in Darfur
- That the Security Council issue a broader mandate for peacekeeping in Darfur that allows for a clear role for the protection of civilians
- That the broader peacekeeping mandate be coupled with sufficient assured international logistical and financial support
- That the Security Council reconstitute the Africa Union troops on the ground as UN "blue helmet" peacekeepers
CWS has also been calling for the Security Council to authorize an expanded multinational peacekeeping presence in Darfur, capable of ensuring the protection of civilians.
Through its national fundraising campaign to help the victims of Darfur, global humanitarian agency Church World Service is responding in Darfur through an international alliance of NGOs from the U.S., Europe, and Sudan.
CWS and its partners are providing food, medicines, agricultural assistance and tools. The consortium is helping some 325,000 families directly, in addition to supporting hospitals and health centers serving up to 250,000 people and by providing water projects for additional communities.
Echoing national Darfur support, this week in Greensboro, North Carolina, where CWS's second largest national fundraising CROP WALK is held each year, the Greensboro Urban Ministry announced that it has launched the region's own "Dear Sudan, Love Greensboro" campaign, targeted to raise $40,000 for Church World Service's Darfur campaign during the month of May.
For more information about the situation in Darfur and CWS's humanitarian and advocacy work there, visit www.churchworldservice.org/news/Sudan.
Washington, DC, Rally
Save Darfur Coalition Rally to Stop Genocide
Date: Sunday April 30, 2006
Program Time: 2:00 - 4:30 PM
(Crowd Assembly 1:30 - 2:00 PM)
Location:National Mall, between 3rd and 4th Streets in front of the U.S. Capitol
(Metro Station -- Federal Center SW [Orange and Blue Lines])
Washington Rally Contact:
Chuck Thies, Rally Director
Phone: (202) 478-6148
E-mail: rally@savedarfur.org
The Washington rally is also the final stop of the "Tour for Darfur: Eyewitness to Genocide," a 21,000 mile photo exhibit and speaking tour of 22 cities in 11 states to raise public awareness about the Darfur crisis. The tour's featured speaker is Brian Steidle, a former Marine captain and U.S. representative to the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Darfur from September 2004 to February 2005.
SPEAKERS LIST:
Confirmed Speakers:
Joe Madison, Emcee (host of The Black Eagle, syndicated radio broadcast)
U.S. Senator Barack Obama (Illinois)
U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (California)
U.S. Representative Frank Wolf (Virginia, co-chair Congressional Sudan Caucus)
U.S. Representative Donald M. Payne (New Jersey, co-chair Congressional Sudan Caucus)
U.S. Representative Michael E. Capuano (Massachusetts, co-chair Congressional Sudan Caucus)
Bush administration official (TBA)
Governor Jon Corzine (New Jersey)
Lt. Governor Michael Steele (Maryland)
Elie Wiesel (Nobel Prize for Peace [1986], Holocaust survivor)
George Clooney (Academy Award Winner)
Nick Clooney (Journalist)
Paul Rusesabagina (Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient whose story was depicted in the movie Hotel Rwanda)
Russell Simmons (founder, Def Jam Recordings, Chairman Foundation for Ethnic Understanding)
Rabbi Marc Schneier (President/Founder, Foundation for Ethnic Understanding)
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.)
Imam A. Rashied Omar (Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Notre Dame University)
Dr. Richard Land (President, Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission)
Joey Cheek (U.S. Olympic Team speed skater, Gold & Silver medalist, Torino, donated his winnings to Darfur charity)
Salih Mahmoud Osman (lawyer and human rights activist from Darfur)
Tragi Mustafa (Darfur refugee, founded Save Women-Sudan)
John Prendergast (Senior Adviser, International Crisis Group; U.S. State Department, 1996-2000)
Samantha Power (Pulitzer Prize winning author, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide)
Gayle Smith (Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress)
Manute Bol (former NBA star, born in Sudan)
Rev. Walter Fauntroy (New Bethel Baptist Church, Washington, DC)
Rabbi Steve Gutow (Jewish Council for Public Affairs)
Rev. John L. McCullough (Executive Director and CEO, Church World Service)
Former Marine Captain Brian Steidle (advisor to African Union forces in Darfur)
Rev. Gloria White-Hammond (National Chairwoman, Million Voices for Darfur Campaign)
Geoff Tunnicliffe (International Director, World Evangelical Alliance)
Simon Deng (Sudan Freedom Walk)
Rabbi David Saperstein (Director, Religious Action Center)
Ruth Messinger (Executive Director, American Jewish World Services, former Manhattan Borough president)
Nesse Godin (Holocaust Survivor)
Erin Mazursky (S.T.A.N.D. - Students Taking Action Now: Darfur)
Arielle Wisotsky and Eric Messinger (Help Darfur Now)
David Rubenstein (Save Darfur Coalition)
San Francisco Rally
"Darfur Days of Conscience"
Three events to raise awareness of the 2.5 million displaced victims of the Darfur region
Date: Sunday, April 30, 2006
Silent Vigil for Peace in Darfur
Location: Golden Gate Bridge - East Sidewalk
Gather at N & S ends of Bridge: 9-10 AM
Walk onto Bridge (East Sidewalk): 10:00 AM
Silent Vigil: 10:45 -10:55 AM
Walk off Bridge: 11 AM
Rally for Darfur
Program Time: 1:30 PM
Location: Crissy Field, The Presidio
Songfest for Darfur
Program Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Temple Emanu-El
The Bay Area Darfur Coalition represents individuals and groups including a string of related community advocacy organizations: "Dear Sudan, Love Marin" and its counterparts in Petaluma, the East Bay and the Peninsula.
Organizers for the Bay Area events include the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, UC Berkeley and Stanford Students Taking Action Now Darfur (STAND), American Friends Service Committee, American Jewish World Service, Dear Sudan, Human Rights Watch, Jewish Community Relations Council, and United Church of Christ.
WHO:
Speakers at the San Francisco Rally for Darfur include Reverend Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church; Fidele Lumeya, International Emergency Response Program Associate Director, Church World Service; Jerry Fowler of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; and other community leaders.
EDITORS' NOTE: Prior to and following the national Darfur rallies, CWS executives Rev. John L. McCullough and Fidele Lumeya are available for media interviews on request.
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;
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