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Darfur Can't Wait: Talking Points

BACKGROUND

As many as 400,000 people have died in Sudan's western Darfur region as a result of ethnic conflicts that erupted in 2003. After decades of low-level clashes, the mostly non-Arab tribes took up arms, accusing the Arab-dominated government of neglect. The government reportedly retaliated by arming militia known as Janjaweed, who began a campaign of murder, rape, arson and plunder that continues today. More than two million villagers have been driven into squalid camps in Darfur and the neighboring country of Chad.

Countless Darfuri lives have been lost as mounting violence has overwhelmed the small African Union operation (7000 troops) attempting to keep peace in Darfur, and the partial peace deal signed in Abuja is very fragile. The greatest barrier to protecting civilians in Darfur is the Sudanese government's refusal to allow United Nations peacekeepers into the area to protect innocent Darfuri lives. In August 2006, the United Nations Security Council voted to send a peacekeeping force of more than 20,000 to Sudan, but the Sudanese government continues to refuse their entry into the country.

QUICK STATS

• 400,000 Darfurians have been killed since 2003.
• More than 2 million internally displaced Dafurians lack proper shelter, food, and health care.
• Over 200,000 Sudanese refugees have been displaced to camps in Chad which lack proper shelter, food, and health care.

TALKING POINTS

• The United States must use all available means, diplomatic and financial, to ensure the rapid deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to Darfur.
• Until United Nations troops are deployed the United States and other nations must continue to assist the African Union troops by providing logistical, financial, and technical support.
• The United States cannot allow Sudanese President Hassan al-Bashir to continue to disregard the UN Security Council as innocent Darfuri citizens continue to die.
• The scale of the atrocity in Darfur can be compared to any genocide in global history. Every conscionable citizen of any country has an obligation to ensure that it comes to an immediate end.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Sign our online petition to tell President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice that:

1. The United States must use all available means, diplomatic and financial, to ensure the rapid deployment of peacekeepers in Darfur.
2. Until United Nations troops are deployed, the United States and other nations must continue to assist the African Union troops by providing logistical, financial, and technical support.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

NAACP National International Affairs Director, Crispian Kirk [202-463-2940, ckirk@naacpnet.org]

Press Contact: Richard McIntire, NAACP Communications Department: [410.580.5127, rmcintire@naacpnet.org]

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