NYT/Reuters: Activists Around the World Focus on Darfur

[DeepModem Mom]

Activists Around the World Focus on Darfur
By REUTERS
Published: September 17, 2006

LONDON (Reuters) - Peace activists around the world staged a day of action on Sunday to highlight the "forgotten war'' in Darfur where tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million left homeless.

In London, Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders delivered a plea and said prayers outside the Downing Street residence of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In Rwanda -- scene of a 1994 genocide which some have evoked in comparison with the Darfur crisis -- survivors of the 100-day slaughter that killed 800,000 people called for action.

"When I think of the people in Darfur today, it makes me sick to the stomach because I know what it's like to watch your protectors walk away and I know the fear of waiting for help that never comes,'' said survivor Didier Sagashya.

The western region of Sudan bordering Chad has been plagued by political and ethnic violence since 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government.

A new estimate of the number of people killed in Darfur published last week put the toll at 200,000 or more. And the more than 2 million people displaced by conflict have created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-sudan-darfur.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[blm]

1. Today, 9-17, Citizenship Day focuses on WORLD CITIZENSHIP, and not just

US Citizenship, as it has in the past been recognized on this day.

[Delphinus]

2. Just got back from one ...

quite moving.