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Page 1 of 2 African American Leadership Delegation Reports Findings From Sudan Mission Washington, DC (BlackNews.com) - A delegation of African American journalists, broadcasters and human rights and community activists recently returned from Sudan reported their findings at a press conference at the National Press Club.
The group visited Darfur, Western Sudan to assess the humanitarian situation and reported: "While we were in Sudan, a committee of inquiry determined that serious human rights abuses were committed in Darfur, but rejected claims of ethnic cleaning and systematic rape, to which we concur. Serious human rights violations took place in the Darfur states, in which all parties in the conflict were involved to varying degrees. This led to human suffering, internal displacements and people taking refuge throughout the region, but there was not systematic and widespread abuse to constitute a crime against humanity."
The delegation of 12 (8 men and 4 women) visited the national capital Khartoum just days after the signing of the historic peace accords ending over 30 years of war inside Sudan.
Delegation meets with Governor of North Darfur
(right hand side - Michael Davis, UNIRIGHTS)
Photo Credit: Monica Morgan
"Collectively, we met with more than 200 government and opposition leaders; community, religious and tribal leaders; as well as representatives of the African Union and international relief organizations," said delegation leader, Give Peace a Chance Coalition (GPAC) Executive Director Hodari Abdul-Ali. "Most people agreed that building on the peace will require cooperation between the former protagonists and emphasized that the U.S. must change its position from pro-South to pro-Sudan for the full engagement of all parties," said Abdul-Ali.
Jacqueline Kakembo, President of the African and American Women's Association reported, "We met with many women and women's groups who want to see peace prevail. From women in camps for internally displaced people to professional women's groups, all say they need peace to progress and raise their families. Women and groups across the board felt that the protests in America did not help their cause and only prolonged the war," stated Rahiel Tesfamariam, Editor of the Washington (DC) Informer newspaper.
"Many in the delegation said they'd had reports that over the years America's CIA supplied arms and money to two anti-Khartoum insurgencies in Darfur, backed by neighboring Chad and Eritrea, both of whom are US clients. People in the area report Washington has been using Darfur's rebels, as it did in southern Sudan's 30-year-old insurgency, to destabilize the Khartoum regime, whose policies have been deemed insufficiently pro-American and too Islamic," said Abdul-Ali.
Most members of Congress, and pro-South activists, have shown little enthusiasm for the peace accords. Michael Davis, of the Universal Human Rights Network, praised the role U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John C. Danforth played in bringing all parties to the table for peace. In spite of the anti-Khartoum positions of many in the Congress, Danforth influenced the Bush Administration to stay the course to seek and achieve peace.
Famous musician and black activist, New York's WRKS radio talk show host James Mtume said, "Congress, and particularly Congressional Black Caucus members, must take a more enlightened role in building Sudan toward its great possibilities. A UN report identifies Sudan is the sixth most resource-laden country on the planet."
Constructive engagement with Sudan will be more fruitful than the vinegar of dissent, disinvestment and demonstration marches of those lobbying for regime change in Khartoum. "In coming months we will be building coalition networks to make African Americans more aware of U.S. policy and how it affects Africans and Africans in the Diaspora," says GPAC Outreach Coordinator William Reed. "We want them to make recommendations to lawmakers for constructive, not destructive, engagements toward Sudan," Reed said.
After the National Press Club press conference, many panelists reported their findings about Sudan to former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young.
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