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National Muslim Organizations Offer Practical Steps to End Darfur Crises |
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Sunday, 07 May 2006 |
(Washington DC, May 2, 2006) - Several national Muslim American organizations today reiterated their concern for the crisis in Darfur, and condemned the violence, which has been perpetrated upon villages by government sponsored militias and the rebels, and has produced more than 1.3 million internally displaced refugees.
The United States Government has determined the continuation of targeted violence against the people of Darfur constitutes genocide. The United Nations, Amnesty International and other agencies disagree on this point.
The joint statement by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) stresses that the humanitarian workers on the ground have warned the international community and the region that politicizing the Darfur conflict will ultimately result in more suffering and will endanger more civilians.
It may be recalled that almost two years ago, Muslim Americans sent a
peace delegation to the region to determine steps toward ending the
conflict and the suffering in Sudan. A group of ten individual
representatives of the national Muslim organizations spent one week
meeting with both government and rebel representatives to encourage the
cessation of violence and a just resolution of the conflict.
The American Muslim organizations further call upon the international
Muslim leadership, Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the
Arab World to honor their obligations toward the people of Sudan and to
be part of the solution in this human tragedy by making significant
contribution through humanitarian aid and political pressure resulting
in a just resolution of the problem.
The Muslim American organizations have requested a meeting with
President Bush and Secretary Rice. The organizations offer the
following recommendations for peace, urging that the U.S. take
effective measures to help the innocent civilians in Darfur:
1. Demand that the Government of Sudan rein in the militias that now rampage villages.
2. Pressure the rebels to accept the peace offer presented by the
African Union mediators and which has been accepted by the government
of Sudan.
3. Warn Eritrea and Chad that they must stop supporting the rebels if
they continue to reject peace offers by African Union mediators.
4. Help reduce the potential for ethnic- or religious- based conflict
by clarifying to the American public that those leading rebel and
government forces are both Muslim and both African Sudanese.
5. Urge the international community to obtain more humanitarian
assistance from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to elevate the
suffering in Darfur.
[CONTACTS: Edina Lekovic, MPAC Communications Director, 213-383-3443,
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; Ahmed ElHattab, ISNA Acting Secretary General,
317-839-1826,
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; Corey P. Saylor, CAIR Government
Affairs Director, 571-278-4658,
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, Naeem Baig, ICNA
Secretary General,
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