\nThe crisis in Darfur has exploded in recent weeks, and now threatens to drag fragile neighboring countries into a regional war.<\/p>\n
Both Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) have become engulfed in fighting that involves a toxic mix of rebel groups, government forces, armed militias, and civilians.<\/p>\n
"It’s not a steady deterioration," Jan Egeland, the outgoing UN humanitarian chief, told reporters last week. "It’s a free fall, and it includes Darfur, eastern Chad, and northern Central African Republic."<\/p>\n
In the past month alone, nearly 60,000 Darfurians have been forced from their homes to escape massacre at the hands of Arab militias known as the janjaweed<\/em>. Aid workers, UN personnel, and independent observers say the janjaweed<\/em> are backed by Sudan’s government, but Khartoum has repeatedly denied this charge.<\/p>\nIn eastern Chad, hundreds of aid workers have been evacuated due to increased hostilities between military forces and anti-government rebel groups, while Arab militiamen have ventured deeper into the country to conduct assaults, resulting in the displacement of nearly 100,000 Chadians.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The bloodbath is spreading.<\/p>\n
If you’d like to send a letter to your congressman, hit the link below for the form letter we used to contact our new Congressman, John Hall. He doesn’t have office space set up yet, so we sent the letters to his campaign headquarters. We’ll certainly be one of the first (if not the first) lobbying effort to approach him. Or at least the first that’s not asking for something for ourselves.<\/p>\n
to see it click below "continue reading…"<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
12\/11\/2006<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
Congressman John Hall<\/span><\/p>\n420 Main St.<\/span><\/p>\nBeacon, NY 12508<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
Dear Representative Hall,<\/span><\/p>\n\n
<\/span><\/p>\n As you know, since February 2003, the Sudanese government has orchestrated a campaign of racial extermination against the ethnically-distinct black African population of Darfur. The Sudanese military and the Janjaweed militias it arms have killed as many as 400,000 black Darfurians. They have bombed and burned villages throughout the region, displacing almost 3.5 million people who now cling to life as homeless refugees. They have raped and assaulted countless woman, including pregnant mothers who have subsequently lost their unborn babies. They have tortured and killed men, often in front of their families. <\/span><\/p>\n\n
<\/span><\/p>\n The violence is far from over: thousands of people continue to die each month in Darfur. <\/span><\/p>\n\n
<\/span><\/p>\n The overwhelming majority of Americans believe the U.S. should be doing more to end the genocide in Darfur. We stand with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said that, \u201cInjustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.\u201d And we stand with President George W. Bush who declared in his Second Inaugural Address that, \u201cAll who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n
<\/span><\/p>\nOur top priority is protecting the lives of innocent civilians. I urge you to take decisive action to ensure their safety, health and freedom by:<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n- Approving adequate funding for Darfur in the Fiscal Year 2007 funding process.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
\n- Passing the strongest possible version of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
\n- Retaining the Clinton Amendment (amendment 4361) within the Defense Authorization bill (S. 2766).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
There are concrete actions you and your Congressional colleagues can take to help protect civilians from murder, rape and displacement. I urge you to take them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
Sincerely,<\/span><\/p>\n\n
X<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
Name: ______________________________<\/span><\/p>\n\n
Address: ____________________________<\/span><\/p>\n\n
<\/span>____________________________<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The past weekend was a "Weekend of Prayer for Darfur" and there was an interfaith service in Croton, as well as a letter-writing opportunity at our church. Here is an ominous look at the fact that something long feared is now happening – the violence is spreading into neighboring African countries – Darfur crisis crosses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6204,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270\/revisions\/6204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}