Ellison arrested at Darfur protest

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Rep. Keith Ellison was among eight activists arrested Monday morning at a demonstration outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington. The event was held to protest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s decision to expel 16 international aid agencies from the country. Reps. John Lewis (D-GA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Donna Edwards (D-MD) were also among those taken away in handcuffs. Roughly 450,000 people have been killed in the Darfur region of Sudan since civil war broke out six years ago.

UPDATE: Ellison released a statement about the protest. Here’s part of it: “We encourage Khartoum to deliver on its promises to implement policy actions to end the deteriorating humanitarian crisis. We implore all countries to demand that the Government of Sudan respect and protect human rights and put an end to the acts of atrocities and crimes against humanity in Darfur.”

Keith Ellison statement
Today, I join with my Congressional colleagues and advocates from Save Darfur and ENOUGH to demand the Government of Sudan immediately take humanitarian action on the situation in Darfur.

The crisis in Darfur remains dire and the humanitarian situation has worsened since the March 4 expulsion of aid agencies.

We protest the expulsion of 13 international NGOs working in Darfur and against the closure of 3 Sudanese NGOs.

Together, these 16 organizations employ nearly 40 percent of the aid workers in Darfur — 6,500 national and international workers.

U.S. Special Envoy Scott Gration recently traveled to Khartoum and secured commitments from the Sudanese government to reverse the negative impacts of the NGO expulsions.

We encourage Khartoum to deliver on its promises to implement policy actions to end the deteriorating humanitarian crisis.

We implore all countries to demand that the Government of Sudan respect and protect human rights and put an end to the acts of atrocities and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

As Members of Congress, we will work to ensure sufficient funding for U.S. diplomatic efforts, bilateral peacekeeping support, U.N. peacekeeping operations, and development and humanitarian projects for Sudan in the FY2009 Emergency Supplemental and the FY2010 appropriation bills.

Actions in Minnesota

Lastly, let me conclude by saying that our actions today are a part of raising awareness about genocide during this, “Genocide Prevention Month.”

In my home state of Minnesota just yesterday, a rally was held at the state Capitol called “Day for Darfur: The Faces of Genocide” organized by state and local groups as part of the national campaign in remembrance of those who died; to protect the remaining survivors; and prevent such tragedies from happening in the future.

Darfur background
from News Day blog
March 4
A former Sudanese soldier describes the atrocities he was ordered to commit in Darfur, before he deserted the army in 2003, eventually leaving the country. He said that two colleagues who refused the orders were shot dead, and that he was beaten and tortured for trying to refuse:

“The orders given to us were to burn the villages completely,” he says.

“We even had to poison the water wells. We were also given orders to kill all the woman and rape girls under 13 and 14.”


The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant this week for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, charging him with war crimes and crimes against humanity.


March 10
Escalating violence in Darfur was marked by an attack on four U.N. peacekeepers by unidentified gunmen. The attack, reports BBC, follows last week’s expulsion of 13 aid agencies from Darfur by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, in retaliation for his indictment by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur is supposed to have 26,000 troops, but only has 15,000. The U.N estimates that 300,000 people have been died in the war since 2003, and 2.7 million people are receiving aid in Darfur after being forced out of their homes.


March 12
Five aid workers were kidnapped in Darfur on Wednesday, in another apparent sequel to last week’s indictment of President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court. Bashir has ordered foreign aid workers to leave the country. The kidnapped workers were French, Italian, Canadian and Sudanese staff for Doctors Without Borders.

More background from BBC
BBC has an informative Q & A that traces the roots of the conflict and describes the International Criminal Court proceedings. More background is available at Sudan: A nation divided

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