Voices of Hope Concert for Darfur - Update

Dear Friends:

Over the last few days, the situation in Darfur has entered its darkest hour in the history of the five year conflict. Sudanese government troops, with the support of its militia, the Janjaweed, launched major aerial and ground attacks in numerous refugee camps and villages in Darfur. Hundreds of civilians have been murdered. The UN announced on Sunday, February 10th that Darfur is at its closest point to all out war than it has been in five years. Since the initiation of this latest round of intense fighting, over twelve thousand Darfuri refugees have crossed the border into Chad, increasing the number of refugees in Chad to close to one million.

Ever since the conflict in Darfur started in 2003, the international community has consistently been informed of the ongoing situation there. Many NGOs, human rights organizations and world renowned celebrities have been working diligently to inform the international community of the plight of the innocent men, women and children that have been caught up in the drive to eradicate the native black African population of Darfur. With all the accumulated information at their disposal, the international community has done nothing to stop the bloodshed.

What is laughable is the fact that on Friday, February 8th, the Sudanese government signed the Status of Forces Agreement which sets out the legal framework for the joint United Nations – African Union Hybrid Force (UNAMID) to operate in Darfur. The Sudanese government lifted certain restrictions pertaining to the movement of UNAMID personnel in Darfur and most importantly it also lifted certain communications restrictions that the Sudanese government had placed on the force. The Sudanese are still refusing to allow troops from non-African nations to be deployed as part of UNAMID and this is causing a major embarrassment to the UN because with the restrictions on the makeup of UNAMID, the UN will not be able to attain its desired deployment goal of 26,000 troops.

Why the Status of Forces Agreement is laughable is the fact that if all out war is declared in Darfur, UNAMID’s objective will be unachievable and most of its current contributing nations may have no choice but to withdraw their troops, because Darfur will no longer be a peacekeeping operation. The operational ability of UNAMID has also been severely disrupted from its initiation because the required logistical support has not been forthcoming from those nations that promised such support.

We have to ask ourselves, what will the big producers in Hollywood call the movie that they make about Darfur and how many Oscars will it win? That seems to be the way episodes of mass human rights and genocide go today. Schindler’s List, Hotel Rwanda, Sometime in April, Blood Diamond, Cry Freedom, to name but a few, are all movies that have been made about genocide, mass human rights abuses and the inability of the international community’s to take action to halt abuses against innocent civilians.

Just as individuals and groups today are working relentlessly to influence the international community to take action in Darfur, during the Holocaust similar bodies of concerned groups were reporting on a daily basis to the allied powers the murderous deeds being committed against the European Jews. For example, on August 8th, 1941, Mr. Gerhart Riegner of the World Jewish Congress in Geneva, dispatched a telegram to Howard Elting, the American Vice-Consul in Geneva and to H. B. Livingston, the British Consul in Geneva as well as to the World Jewish Congress in both London and New York in which it was stated that “We have received an alarming report stating that, in the Fuehrer’s Headquarters, a plan has been discussed and is under consideration, according to which all Jews in countries occupied or controlled by Germany numbering 3-4 millions, should, after deportation and concentration in the East, be at one blow exterminated, in order to resolve, once and for all the Jewish question in Europe.” This telegram was part of the overall campaign to alert the allies of Hitler’s plan as it pertained to the destruction of European Jewry.

Groups such as the World Jewish Congress, the Palestine Office (Geneva) and some governments in exile, worked not only to highlight what was happening to the Jews, but also to the Poles, Russian POWs, Roman Catholic Priests, and all those that fell foul of the Nazis. The warnings and pleas for help fell on deaf ears. The allies, primarily the British, were concerned that any action would only endanger the lives of their soldiers and aircrews that were being held as POWs in Germany.

Also during the Holocaust, a letter that was past on to the Polish government in exile and read out on the BBC by Szmul Zygielbojm, a member of the National Council of the Polish government in exile raised such public concerns that even those suffering the worst of the London blitz started to call for action on behalf of the Jews of Europe. The letter was written by a woman in the Warsaw ghetto, during its liquidation and the mass deportations to Treblinka, to her sister in the Lodz ghetto. The letter read “My hands are shaking. I cannot write. Our minutes are numbered. The Lord knows whether we shall see one another again. I write and weep. My children are whimpering. They want to live. We bless you. If you get no more letters from me you will know that we are no longer alive.” (Please see Martin Gilbert’s AUSCHWITZ AND THE ALLIES, A Devastating Accounting of How the Allies Responded to the News of Hitler’s Mass Murder.)

Information regarding the Nazis’ plan pertaining to the destruction of the European Jews during the war was past on to the allies almost on a daily basis. The allies inaction, due to their own concerns, has ensured that the promise of “never again” will be forever broken. This is evident by the development of genocidal conflicts in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda, to name but a few cases in point, whereby the international community stood by and did nothing to stop the mass slaughter of innocent civilians.

In Darfur, the lack of intervention by the international community is primarily related to the potential loss of economic, mineral and military trade agreements by the most powerful members of the international community. Neither racism nor economic concerns are excuses for inaction. Those in power that have the ability to stop the slaughter of the innocent civilian population in Darfur, but don’t use it may be considered just as guilty as those who perpetrate these acts.

The International Alliance For Human Rights, together with Hope for Humanity Alliance International will be staging the biggest concert event ever held to enhance global awareness of the conflict in Darfur and we will be calling on the international community to stop with the rhetoric and initiate action to save the millions of lives that are currently at risk in Darfur. For more information on how you can help, please email dnolan@iafhr.org or call 212.695.7022, ext. 315.