Responding Effectively and Immediately to the Human Rights Tragedy
in Sudan
WHEREAS, a conflict between rebel forces in the Darfu
region of Sudan and forces of the Sudanese government (along with allied
Janjaweed militias) has resulted in attacks by air and ground forces on tens of
thousands of innocent people and undefended villages throughout the Darfur
regions; and
WHEREAS, approximately 30,000 people are believed to
have been killed, with over one million people forced from their homes by the
Sudanese government troops and Janjaweed militias, approximately 120,000 of
them having sought refugee protection in neighboring Chad; and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of State
estimates that at least 301 Sudanese villages have been systematically attacked
and destroyed, and another 76 Sudanese villages have been damaged; and
WHEREAS, a more precise assessment of the scope of
the killing, ethnic cleansing, and other human rights atrocities (including
rapes and tortures) has been made impossible because of obstructions to access
imposed by the Sudanese government; and
WHEREAS, the Sudanese government has been unwilling
to effectively address the human rights crisis in Darfur and has been supplying
arms to the allied Janjaweed militias perpetrating violence against African
Muslims in Darfur; and
WHEREAS, much of the violence being perpetrated
against people in the Darfur region of Sudan is occurring through aerial
attacks; and
WHEREAS, Amnesty International has estimated that
almost three million people are affected by the conflict in the Darfur region,
but humanitarian aid agencies and the United Nations estimate that only 15
percent of these people have received aid, due to impediments to the delivery
of aid imposed by the Sudanese government; and
WHEREAS, because of the impediments to access by
humanitarian in jeopardy of starvation
and illness; and
WHEREAS, United States Secretary of State Colin
Powell has said of the situation, “This is a catastrophe and it is incumbent on
the international community to come together solidly to do everything we can to
bring it to an end to bring relief to these desperate people;” and
Whereas,
the United States and much of the international community turned a blind eye to
the murders, rapes and torture of millions of people, as well as the ethnic
cleansing and other massive human rights abuses during the Holocaust, and in
Rwanda, Bosnia and Srebrenica; and
WHEREAS, there has been general agreement that “Never
Again” will we allow such tragedies to occur; and
Whereas,
effective measures can be taken by the United States, the United Nations, and
the international community to end many of the tragic human rights abuses
occurring in Sudan,
Now, therefore, be it resolved that
the U.S. Conference of Mayors strongly urges the U. S. Congress and the Bush
Administration, in collaboration with the United Nations, to call on the
government of Sudan to (a) declare a no-fly zone over the Darfur region,
putting an end to aerial attacks, with enforcement of the no-fly zone to be
provided by the United Nations; (b) allow the free movement of human rights
investigators and humanitarian workers in the Darfur region; (c) cease
supplying the allied Janjaweed militia with arms; and (d) agree to a United
Nations mission of at lease 10,000 international peacekeepers to stop the
violence and attend to the needs of those who have been impacted by the
violence in the Darfur region.
©2004 U.S. Conference of Mayors 