27 October 2004

(Spreading word of the tragedy can save lives, they say)

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- A group of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders October 27 urged U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to provide daily reports on the casualties in the Darfur region of Sudan as a way of calling attention to the ongoing tragedy there and moving the international community from indifference to action.

Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, leader of the delegation, said that the group asked for the meeting to tell Annan "of our pain, of our anguish, of our outrage over the situation in Darfur. People are dying day after day in the hundreds, in the thousands, and we feel not enough is being done."

"Some of us belong to a generation that has seen the indifference of the world. For me, the indifference of the past is a source of anguish and despair. Therefore, when we speak, we speak because we say, ‘No more indifference wherever and whenever people kill other people and people die,'" Wiesel said.

"We must -- we must -- be sensitive to their pain and their death. That is why we came to see the secretary-general, and that is why we leave with a certain measure of hope," he said.

Weisel added that the group, which represents most of the organized faith movements in the United States, also thanked Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell for "leading a campaign of sensitization to create more awareness in the world to the tragedy in Sudan."

An important way to explain and underscore the urgency of the problem is to tally the numbers of men, women, and children who are starving, homeless, dying, and being raped each day, the group said. They asked the secretary-general to have U.N. personnel in Darfur and Chad provide daily counts of the numbers of dead and dying and publicize those numbers.

Members of the group said that they were encouraged by Annan's request that they keep the pressure on and the secretary-general's promise that he will keep the issue before the public.

Hannah Rosenthal of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs said, "[O]ne way to educate the public and demand an end to silence is to frame the issue, not [as] one group against another, not whether it fits a diplomatic definition, but how many people are being killed, starved, raped.

"That is how we raise the moral outrage at home, in the world community, so we can look at our grandchildren and say we did everything possible to educate the world and that we saved lives and we put an end to this genocide."

Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, chairman of the Justice Committee of the Islamic Leadership Council of New York, said that for the past four months his organization has been working with the Islamic Circle of North America, the charity designated to collect money, clothing, and other necessities for Darfur. They have held educational forums in mosques and in neighborhoods to educate the community at large to the tragedy and address some of the problems that have surfaced in the international community because of the religious and ethnic nature of the tragedy.

Regardless of some differences, the imam said, Darfur reflects "the humanitarian concerns that we all have in common, throughout not only the Muslim world, but ... very heavily right here in the United States among the 7 or 8 million Muslims who are citizens here."

The religious leaders said that they have been active in educating their congregations about the tragedy -- writing church bulletins and organizing forums and press conferences in cities all over the country. With that education have come donations and offers of help.

Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, who represented the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that Catholic parishes throughout the United States have asked their congregations for money to help underwrite humanitarian aid in Darfur.

"Catholic Relief Services is already there and has put in over $2 million in bedding, food, and the like," Bishop Murphy said. "The important thing is that the people in the United States who are being educated about this are responding very generously. The money is coming in to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops."

Ruth Messinger, executive director of the American Jewish World Service/Save Darfur Coalition, said there has been "a huge response from the American Jewish community through everything from congregations to national organizations. We know of about $650,000 that we've raised that is going to support humanitarian aid efforts in both Sudan and Chad."

Messinger, who has been to Darfur, said: "The critical issue which we engaged in with the secretary-general is to get the information out. The Jewish community understands that the worst problem is silence from the international community in the face of 10,000 deaths a month or more. That is why we are responding."

Also accompanying the group was Sarah Bloomfield, director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. She asked the U.N. secretary-general to use the museum as a platform to make a major statement on Darfur.

"Our museum, open for 11 years, has taught the world about the failures of the international community during the Holocaust, and unfortunately during the Balkans crisis and in Rwanda," Bloomfield said.

"We, too, are trying to contribute our voice to raise public awareness," she said. "This time the world community has a chance to make a difference, and we hope that we can contribute to that effort."

Others attending the meeting were Archbishop Kharjag Barsamian of the Armenian Church of America, Dr. Anthony Kireopoulos of the National Council of Churches, and the Reverend James Forbes of the Riverside Church in New York City.