By RASHA AL QAHTANI
A CAMPAIGN was launched in Bahrain yesterday to demand action on the situation in Darfur ahead of the 62nd UN General Assembly, which opens in New York next Tuesday.
It is part of a global effort spearheaded by Globe For Darfur and Save Darfur Coalition, which invites people to join an online international petition to urge governments and political leaders to “not look away now”.
They say that some in the international community had become complacent since the UN Security Council approved plans on July 31 for a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for the vast, war-battered region in western Sudan.
By RASHA AL QAHTANI
A CAMPAIGN was launched in Bahrain yesterday to demand action on the situation in Darfur ahead of the 62nd UN General Assembly, which opens in New York next Tuesday.
It is part of a global effort spearheaded by Globe For Darfur and Save Darfur Coalition, which invites people to join an online international petition to urge governments and political leaders to “not look away now”.
They say that some in the international community had become complacent since the UN Security Council approved plans on July 31 for a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for the vast, war-battered region in western Sudan.
However, the deployment of the joint African Union-UN peacekeeping force faced delays due to a lack of aviation, transport and logistics units.
In the meantime Darfur’s violence has increased, say campaigners.
They demand the force be deployed swiftly and the international community put pressure on all sides in the conflict until attack on civilians stops.
The local campaign was organised by the Bahrain Society for Public Freedoms in co-operation with Bahrain Coalition for International Criminal Court.
They sent out thousands of SMS to Bahrain residents encouraging them to sign the petition at www.globefordarfur.org
“A total of 5,000 petitions are needed before the UN General Assembly opens next week,” said campaign co-ordinator Nasser Burdestani.
“The world has acknowledged the atrocities in Darfur and its leaders have promised to end them.”
He said that the only thing left to do was to fulfil that promise and the meeting was a crucial juncture for people of Darfur.
He said that it was up to the international community to ensure that attacks on civilians stop and peace returns to the people.
Celebrities, activists and human rights groups across the globe joined demonstrations yesterday.
In London, scores of activists donned black blindfolds, symbolising the international community’s failure to act since vowing to stop atrocities in Darfur two years ago.
Demonstrators in Rome wore white T-shirts with a bloodstained hand on the front and marched to the Italian city’s central Piazza Farnese.
They carried a peace torch, which they said was lit in Chad where hundreds of thousands from Darfur now live in refugee camps.
For more information on the campaign, visit www.globe
fordarfu.org or www.
savedarfur.org
rasha@gdn.com.bh
