Summary of letter(s) sent to Congress:

Use something of this nature to send to your elected officials as well

You can get the addresses of your representatives by going to this website and entering your zip code: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home.

I write to you to make an appeal for your support of U.S. policy to protect the people of Darfur. As you know, this is one of the world’s most entrenched conflicts and approximately 400,000 people have been killed. In 2004, Colin Powell and President George W. Bush declared the crisis in Darfur to be “genocide.” However, despite this designation, too little has been done to respond to the crisis

The United States has enormous leverage in the global political arena, and I ask you to lobby and vote for a stronger international peacekeeping force. Currently, the paltry 7,000 African Union troops do not have the ability to control the conflict or protect the millions of displaced Darfurians. Also, the United States must play a much larger role in helping broker a political solution to the conflict, as was done for the civil war in Southern Sudan. It is clear that the Janjaweed attacks on the mostly non-Arab Darfurians are not random. They are calculated, systematic and funded / coordinated by Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP). This is not acceptable. It is imperative that the U.S. government target the NCP with economic sanctions. The perpetrators of this genocide must be held accountable.

Furthermore, I urge you to encourage President Bush to cooperate with the International Criminal Court as they investigate war crimes in Darfur. Though not party to the ICC, the U.S.Darfur. should, at a minimum, provide information and support to the ICC to bring accountability for the atrocities in

In conclusion, I ask that the important global alliances forged in the name of the War on Terrorism (ie. U.S. – Sudan ties) do not interfere with what is required to stem the violence in Darfur. It is not acceptable to turn a blind-eye on the National Congress Party of Sudan, since they have cooperated with the U.S. in the War on Terrorism. Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to your response. Together we can stop the genocide in Darfur.