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Sudan: International Community Urged to Act Now

The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS
May 21, 2004
Posted to the web May 21, 2004

By Adala Wanaswa
Nairobi
The All Africa Conference of Churches Secretary-General, Dr Mvume Dandala,
yesterday called on all churches and the international community to act now to
prevent a genocide in the Sudan.
He said he was shocked and heartbroken during a visit to the country last week,
saying the situation there could develop into what happened in Rwanda 10 years
ago.
"The Sudan, as you are aware, is everything that embodies pain. It is a huge
cauldron, a boiling pot and hurting all the same time," he said.
He said that in the Upper Nile region of the Sudan, government backed militias
were raiding villages with abandon.
"Reports reaching us last evening from our contacts in Sudan said that within
the last four days, homes of an estimated 23,000 villagers have been razed down
in the Upper Nile," he said.
He said the Sudanese peace talks at Naivasha should have a strong backing from
the people of that country for the initiative to succeed.
He said while the Naivasha talks were going on, the situation on the ground was
"extremely terrible", adding that black refugees in camps about 20 kilometres
from Khartoum were living in what can be described as "hell on earth."
Dandala said most of the refugees were women and children who were languishing
in the hot sand with temperatures ranging between 42 degrees and up to 47
degrees centigrade.

   

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