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Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan - Action Alert Background


Please act by sending a personal or form letter, and by forwarding this alert. Thank you!

Situation

  • The conflict in the Western Sudan region of Darfur is longstanding and complex. At root it is about both the ethnic identity of the Sudanese, and the nation's resources, particularly its aboundant oil reserves. Neither is the conflict unrelated to the 21-year-old civil war in Southern Sudan. Althought that conflict recently ended in a ceasefire, the details of a permanent settlement remain to be settled, perpetuating the nation's instability.
  • In February 2003, the Sudan Liberation Army, a rebel group in the Darfur region of Sudan, took up arms against the Sudanese government, protesting the lack of government protection for their people and the government's failure to develop the region economically.
  • The Sudanese government in reaction has supported and collaborated with an armed ethnically Arabian militia known as the Janjaweed that has killed, raped and abducted the Black Sudanese population of Darfur, and destroyed their homes and property, including water sources and livestock. Thousands have died and over one million have been displaced.
  • The recent escalation of the conflict to include war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly genocide has triggered calls for intervention by the international community to protect innocent civilians at risk.

    WFM Analysis

    World Federalists support institutions of global governance that are democratically accountable and based on the rule of law. WFM – Canada and the international World Federalist Movement seek to broaden international acceptance of the "The Responsibility to Protect." Largely in response to the failure to protect in Rwanda, the principles and norms of the "The Responsibility to Protect” were articulated in 2001 in a report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. Among other recommendations, the report calls for humanitarian intervention by the international community in the most serious national (domestic) situations.

    "Grave crimes, of a widespread and systematic nature, continue in Sudan,” says WFMC President, Hon. Warren Allmand. “The Sudanese government is demonstrably unable or unwilling to put an end to these crimes. The case for humanitarian intervention in Sudan is unavoidable."

    It is WFM-C's position that Canada and the international community must act now.

    For additional background information on Sudan:
    Citizens for Global Solutions
    Human Rights Watch
    AllAfrica.com
    ReliefWeb.net

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