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"People of Darfur no longer have time for diplomatic courtesies" Church World Service head tells thousands at DC Darfur rally
People forming a human chain in a morning silent vigil at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Photo: Tom Hampson/CWS
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WASHINGTON DC -- On Sunday, thousands of Americans of virtually every age, religion, and stripe gathered together in Washington and San Francisco and in other cities across the country to rally and urge the Bush administration to leverage U.S. position and take decisive action to bring an end to the genocide in Darfur.
Today - spurred on, in part, by the increasing volume of American voices, we would like to believe - the U.S. Department of State has dispatched Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick to Abuja, Nigeria, to press for Darfur rebels and the Government of Sudan to finalize a flagging peace deal. The Government of Sudan had agreed to the terms of the agreement on Friday.
This weekend's "Save Darfur" Washington and San Francisco rallies were supported by Church World Service and more than 150 other advocacy organizations, in concert with the national SaveDarfur.org and the Bay Area Darfur Coalition.
 Rev. John L. McCullough addressing the Darfur rally in DC. Photo: Martin Shupack/CWS |
"The people of Darfur no longer have time for diplomatic courtesies, and we have no patience for partisan politics," he said. "Already hundreds of thousands have died, and far too many others are at risk of the unrelenting tide of death that is sweeping across hot desert sands.
"The time for political posturing has expired," he said. "The time for decisive action is now. Hear us when we say, 'we are America and we are Dafur.' We have reached the moment of our moral imperative, the intertwining of our lives, and we see our common destiny."
McCullough, who spoke at a similar Darfur rally on April 9 in his hometown of Montclair, New Jersey, told Sunday's Washington gathering, "There is a bond that defines not only the meaning of family, but our humanity as well. (Read Rev. John L McCullough's op-ed in the Montclair Times.)
"When Darfur is at risk, we are at risk," he said. "Religious intolerance and racism, economic indifference and greed, human trafficking and sexploitation, and more, contribute to the devaluing of our global family, and our collective sense of humanity.
"Our failure to act now risks breaking the bond of family, lessening our own humanity, and leaving us complicit in our own global genocide."
McCullough said it is past time for the international community, and with the full commitment of the United States, "to act decisively to safeguard the people of Darfur. "We expect no less," he said.
Other speakers at the Washington rally included Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, actor-director George Clooney, and Sen. Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois.
Speaking to Religion News Service last week, McCullough said, "I think it (the religious presence) is extremely important because it does speak to the consciousness of the nation. For many people, their participation in the rally is an expression of their faith and their moral outrage and their concern for what is happening."
Sunday in San Francisco, as part of the Bay Area's "Darfur Days of Conscience," some 5,000 people formed a human chain in a morning silent vigil at the Golden Gate Bridge.
That afternoon at San Francisco's Crissy Field, more than 15,000 protesters gathered to rally and hear presentations by advocates, including Church World Service International Emergency Response Program Associate Director Fidele Lumeya, Jerry Fowler of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church.
The San Francisco gatherings were organized by the Bay Area Darfur Coalition, which represents individuals and groups including the related community advocacy organizations "Dear Sudan, Love Marin" and its counterparts in Petaluma, the East Bay and the Peninsula, which have been supported by Church World Service. Other Bay Area organizers included UC Berkeley and Stanford Students Taking Action Now Darfur (STAND), American Friends Service Committee, American Jewish World Service, Human Rights Watch, Jewish Community Relations Council, and the United Church of Christ.
 CWS/ERP Associate Director Fidele Lumeya addresses the crowd at Crissy Field. Photo: Tom Hampson/CWS
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At Crissy Field, CWS's Fidele Lumeya likened humanitarian response to the people of Darfur to the two wings of a bird:
"With one wing we respond to humanitarian needs by providing materials aid. With the other, we join with other NGOs in urging that African Union peacekeepers be reconstituted as a UN peacekeeping force; that they be given a stronger mandate to protect civilians; and that they be supported with the participation of more peacekeepers from other countries around the world."
Lumeya, who is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, urged support for African Union mediator Salim Saleh; for reconstituting the AU peacekeepers as a UN peacekeeping force; for providing it with a stronger mandate to protect civilians; and for expanding the AU force with more peacekeepers from other countries around the world.
Also a participant in a February Darfur rally in Washington, Lumeya told this Sunday's Bay Area audiences that long term solutions for Darfur required not just a "comprehensive" peace agreement but an all-inclusive peace agreement that involves civil society.
"The track one diplomacy used in North-South peace agreement was exclusive," said Lumeya, "and civil society actors were not invited.
"For long and lasting peace in Sudan, an all-inclusive, multi-track peace approach is recommended, as it creates an open space for all concerned parties to negotiate their peace.".
As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday, during a visit to a refugee camp in Darfur last year, Lumeya "was taking inventory of water and food supplies when a little girl ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his leg. Lumeya assumed the girl, Amna, needed water, but when he asked her what she wanted, she said, Can you help my mom go back home?
"'I promised Amna that I would go around the world and bring her voice to people who can help her,' Lumeya said. 'The people in Darfur don't want to leave. They want protection, and they want security.'"
Lumeya says religious leaders and sheiks have been asking CWS and its partners for help building grassroots programs that will enable them to conduct community-level reconciliation, conflict mediation and prevention. Lumeya said the local leaders and faith leaders "should not be waiting for political solutions only."
Before Sunday's Bay Area rallies, Lumeya presented on the Darfur Crisis to groups from Fresno, including the Dean of the Fresno School of Mission.
"After the presentation," Lumeya said, "those who attended, including one seventy year old woman, said they were leaving with a clearer understanding of the Darfur conflict and genocide, and they promised to tell other people what they had heard."
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;
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