Contact your members of Congress today and tell them to urge
President Bush to act now to implement the Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act.
Described as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” the genocide
in Darfur continues unabated, destroying villages and creating a
massive refugee and displaced population living at the edge of
survival. The violent nature of the genocide only worsens as the
killings, rape, and torture are now accompanied by the latest
Janjaweed tactic of gouging out the eyes of civilians with bayonets.
Last year, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Darfur
Peace and Accountability Act (DPAA), but nothing has been
done to implement it. The law would:
Freeze the assets of perpetrators of the genocide.
Deny entry into U.S. ports of oil tankers that are doing business
with Sudan.
Take action
Call and e-mail your representative and senators today. Tell them to
demand that Bush act now to implement the Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act, including asset freezes and denial of port
entries.
Call the Capitol switchboard
directly at 202-224-3121 where you can ask to be connected to
your representative's office. You may also send an immediate
message by e-mail, or find contact information for your
representative, by visiting our
Legislative Action Center.
Message/talking points
As long as Sudanese leaders remain free to commit these atrocities
without punishment, the “calculations of the Sudanese government
will not change, and the death toll will continue to climb,” said
Omer Ismail, a Darfurian activist who is now a fellow at the Carr
Center for Human Rights at Harvard University.
The DPAA was supposed to go into effect in November 2006. There is
no point in passing legislation without implementing it. Although
the law is nonbinding, it should still be implemented to increase
the pressure on Sudan’s genocidal government.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans – 62 percent – support the use of
asset freezes against Sudanese leaders guilty of organizing and
executing the genocide, according to a poll by the Genocide
Intervention Network.
Enforcing the port entry denial provision of the DPAA will make it
more difficult for shipping companies to continue exporting oil from
Sudan. However, because this only affects 5 percent of oil tankers
entering the United States (and because other oil tankers will meet
U.S. needs) this will not affect U.S. oil prices.
Although the U.S. government has frozen the assets of four
midlevel perpetrators of the genocide, it has not targeted the more
senior accountable leaders including President Omar al-Bashir,
militia leader Sheikh Musa Hilal, and Second Vice-President Ali
Osman Taha.
For more information about our Drumbeat for Darfur campaign, please
contact Monika Parikh at 800-388-3920, ext.398, or by e-mail at
drumbeatfordarfur@uusc.org .
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