[allAfrica.com]  [The_Nation,_Nairobi]


Africa Action Marks 10th Anniversary of Rwandan Genocide; Urges US Action on
Crisis in Sudan as UN warns of Ethnic Cleansing Campaign

Africa Action (Washington, DC)
PRESS RELEASE
April 7, 2004
Posted to the web April 7, 2004
Washington, DC
A decade after the massacre of nearly 1 million people in Rwanda, Africa Action
today joins people around the world in observing an International Day of
Reflection on the Rwandan genocide. At noon local time in each time-zone, a
minute of silence will be observed as the world remembers the terrible events
that began to unfold in Rwanda ten years ago this month.
But even as Western governments and international leaders mark this
anniversary, pledging that such a tragedy will never again be allowed to occur,
a growing crisis in Darfur in western Sudan threatens to make a lie of these
commitments.
Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action said today, "A decade ago,
the world averted its eyes as genocide unfolded in Rwanda. The US had
information about what was happening on the ground, but it blocked an effective
response - an act for which President Clinton has since apologized. Now, a
campaign of ethnic cleansing is gaining momentum in Darfur, but the US appears
ready, once again, to turn away."
Booker continued, "At what point do we ask the uncomfortable question, why does
the US seem to consider it acceptable for such genocidal acts to occur in
Africa?"
UN officials and human rights organizations are describing the current
situation in Darfur as an "organized campaign" of ethnic cleansing, where the
Islamic government in Khartoum is backing Arab Muslim militias in their efforts
to drive Africans out of that region. Almost one million people have been
internally displaced, a million more have fled to neighboring Chad, and entire
villages and infrastructure have been destroyed. More than 30,000 people have
already been killed.
Africa Action calls for an immediate end to the murders and human rights abuses
being committed in Darfur, and urges the rapid deployment a UN peace-keeping
force to ensure this occurs. Africa Action calls on the US to redouble its
efforts to achieve a peace agreement for Sudan to resolve the issues between
the North and the South, but also to promote a national peace process that will
end the nascent conflicts in other parts of the country.
Salih Booker said this morning, "Contrary to the suggestion that the US is on
the verge of a peace victory in Sudan, the current crisis in Darfur reveals the
inadequacies of the US approach. The Bush Administration has been strategically
rebuilding its relationship with the Khartoum government, but has not invested
enough in promoting a just political settlement between North and South, and
more broadly. Now the US needs to use its leverage to stop this unfolding
crisis in Darfur, which is taking a devastating human toll."
Africa Action notes that the US is the only country implicated that has never
launched an official investigation into its role in the Rwandan genocide.

   

  ==============================================================================
 Copyright © 2004 Africa Action. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
                          Global Media (allAfrica.com).
  ==============================================================================