News from AFRECS in the USA

 

 

Last week I participated in a moving press conference in which Congressman Frank Wolf, a longtime Congressional advocate for our suffering friends in Sudan, spoke compellingly of the humanitarian disaster about to take place as an estimated 500 thousand Sudanese in the Nuba Mountains face starvation and inevitable death unless food reaches them very soon.  

The Congressman’s moving presentation and the testimonies of victims of an ongoing war who had found safety in the Yidda camp just inside South Sudan prompted a letter to Secretary Clinton, pressing for more robust US leadership in seeking immediate international  pressure to open the borders to agencies who could prevent massive starvation. I asked colleagues to use the letter as a basis for their own pleas to Secretary Clinton for the Administration to speak out more boldly about this crisis and to seek international action to prevent a horrific humanitarian disaster. I know of a colleague who shared our message and asked others to invest a few minutes in this advocacy initiative. I trust that others will do the same.

The danger is that this catastrophe will remain virtually invisible as other crises compete for media attention and the policy energy of Congress and the Administration. Worse yet is the prospect of the crisis being seen as intractable with no readily available solution  in view.  Such thinking leads to despair and the silence that follows when advocates give up and a sense of hopelessness sets in.

I ask that others follow the example of my colleague and check the AFRECS letter to Secretary Clinton and use it or adapt it and send it immediately as an expression of outrage that thousands will die without an urgent relief effort. Possibly the AFRECS letter will not in and of itself make a difference, but an avalanche of letters will register as a powerful message of concern. Speaking out lets key policy makers know that there is an aroused  public that cares deeply that the world not permit the extinction of those in the Nuba Mountains whose lives hang in the balance. Moreover, our  voices matter to those whose voices are muffled by the bombs being rained upon them. 

Despair without action is an unacceptable Christian response. Hope is the hallmark of our faith. Failure to speak out is not just an abandonment of our Sudanese friends but of the faith that we are called to embrace. Prayers and advocacy are vital expressions of that  faith. Let us be faithful.

Anglican Women's Empowerment at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

Lillian Clement, wife of Bishop Stephen Dokolo of the Diocese of Lui in South Sudan, attended the first week of the UNCSW under the auspices of Anglican Women's Empowerment (AWE), participating in a parallel event on African partnerships along with AWE executive director Kim Robey, Debbie Smith of Lui's Companion Diocese of Missouri, and several women from other African countries and their American partners. The theme of this year's UNCSW is rural women, and the US Department of State has just announced the unveiling of the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Next year's theme will be violence against women.

In politics -- South Sudan:  

South Sudan has accused Sudan of bombing two oil wells in Unity State, South Sudan. Oil talksbetween the two countries have begun again, but Voice of America suggests that there is little reason for optimism. The Wall Street Journal reports that South Sudan will begin exporting up to 10 percent of its oil capacity by truck until new pipelines that bypass Sudan are complete.

 

Unity and Jonglei States suffer from widely sown landmines, both old and new, according to a report from Relief Web.

 

 

Despite some controversy, the government of South Sudan is having the army disarm the warring factions of Jonglei State. Voice of America has the complex story. Meanwhile, South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar addressed the diaspora at the University of Minnesota and asked them to stop spreading false information about disarmament.

 

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has mobilized the Popular Defense Forces, ordering camps for them to be opened. They are to join in the fight against the SPLM-North in South Kordofan. (Sudan's coalition of opposition parties renounced the mobilization and called for Bashir to step down.) The President denounced Muammar Qaddafi, South Sudan, and the United States and danced in the streets of Khartoum with his Defense Minister. Brian Williams' MSNBC showRock Center had a show on the situation in the Nuba Mountains. Meanwhile the SRF, jointrebel forces in South Kordofan, claimed victory over the Sudan Armed Forces in key areas of the Nuba Mountain region, clearing the way for refugees to escape again. Khartoum has accused Juba's ruling SPLM of aiding the rebels, a charge the government of South Sudan consistently denies. The US Department of State made a statement about the border fighting in which they urged Juba to stop any support for the SPLM-North and both sides to de-escalate. The UN Security Council also rebuked both sides for the continuing threat to international peace and security. Khartoum for its part is threatening to expel the US diplomatic mission in Sudan unless Washington stops saying there is famine in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

 

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's Minister of Defense on March 1st, for 41 counts of crimes against humanity and crimes of war. This is the fourth Darfur-related warrant issued by the ICC; no arrests have yet been made.

 

URGE:  Please consider sending the AFRECS letter to Secretary Clinton or sending a similar message urging action on the humanitarian crisis in the Nuba Mountains.

 

PRAY:  Please pray for an end to all conflicts in and between Sudan and South Sudan.