Save Darfur Coalition cause on facebook.com is now making a lot of different and calling upon people to raise awarness about the on going Genocide in Darfur. Therefore, if any of you guys have facebook or want to join.. You can add the Save Darfur cause on your page and invite friends to it too..

here is hte link to cause and joining.

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/72?recruiter_id=1087068&h=ppn

Hey, everyone here.. Our friend Dean Jacobs the writter and founder of Travel for life is traveling to Sudan as part of his world wide Journey across the globe on a low budget..

While he's in Sudan he'll be studying situation there in Sudan.. Check out his latest adventures..

You can also support him by buying his new Book "Wondrous Journey"

Visit him and sign up for news letter.. or get more info about his Journey across the globe.


Here is the link

http://travel4life.org/

today i sent condoleezza rice a statement asking her to stay strong and urge china, and france (key nations in this battle to save darfur)to work together to put enough pressure on the Sudanese goavernment to stop the violence. Have you asked Ms. Rice to use this one-of-a-kind opportunity to urge China and France to join forces with the U.S. on Darfur Diplomacy. Next Monday is the meeting between these countries, if you haven't sent her a letter yet, you still have time to send it, and if you have already sent her a letter THANKS
you can send her a letter at from this link if you wish to do so, and read this before
june 25, 2007
here's the link
Link

Well, the plan B doesn't make any different at all according to Sudan goverment we need to push president bush to do more than that. They're sending us a clear message that the sanction won't stop killing in Darfur.






June 4, 2007 (KHARTOUM) -- Business leaders managing Sudan's economic boom predict the new U.S. sanctions imposed because of Darfur will have little impact on this country's oil-based economy, mostly because they avoid targeting key Chinese interests here.


Chinese President Hu Jintao shakes hands with his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Beshir. (AFP)The US measures and the violence in Darfur are likely to be topics when the Group of Eight industrialised countries meet this week at a summit in Germany.

US President George Bush has directed American officials to meet with allies to try to draft a new United Nations Security Council resolution that would impose multilateral pressure on Sudan, in addition to the unilateral actions by the US.

But China has urged negotiations rather than sanctions as the best way to elicit co-operation from Sudan, and holds veto power in the Security Council.

That has again highlighted China's central role in the Darfur issue.

The US sanctions announced last week target 31 Sudanese companies and three individuals - the military intelligence chief, a cabinet minister and a rebel leader linked to the Darfur violence that has killed 200 000 people and forced 2,5 million from their homes.

The newly sanctioned companies join 132 other Sudanese firms already banned from doing business with any US company or bank.

But Abdul Rahim Hamdi, a former Sudanese finance minister who advises the Sudanese government on economic matters, said the US sanctions mostly avoid the most critical parts of Sudan's economy - oil and the oil sector's Chinese customers.

Last year, Sudan's economy grew by 12 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund. That growth was propelled by the estimated 500 000 barrels of oil produced each day - two-thirds of them bought by China.

Hamdi noted that only Sudanese oil-drilling companies are on the new US sanctions list, not Chinese or other foreign corporations - some of which pay huge royalties to the Sudanese government.

"The Chinese companies are the only big players, but the Americans have carefully avoided targeting them," Hamdi said.

US authorities have defended the new measures, saying they not only broaden the target list but also provide better methods to track down embargo evaders.

"Tougher new enforcement techniques," including "forensic accounting" have been used to select the newly targeted companies and to make sure all 163 now on the sanctions list are truly barred from the dollar economy, US embassy spokesperson Joel Maybury said.

US officials also dispute the idea that they are leery of disrupting Chinese relations over Darfur.

"We can very definitely say that the issue of Sudan is on the United States-China bilateral agenda," US under Secretary of State John Negroponte told reporters last week.

However, some Sudanese officials say privately that they believe the White House is unwilling to drive up world oil prices by targeting the shipping companies that export the country's oil production.

For now, the only Sudanese company that truly risks being affected by the US measures, Hamdi contends, is Sudatel, Sudan's largest cellphone provider, because it is listed on the stock exchange in the United Arab Emirates and is largely owned by foreign investors.

After a decade of American sanctions, Sudan has few commercial ties to the United States at this point, meaning the effect of US sanctions is fairly limited, both Hamdi and outside analysts say.

Nearly three-quarters of Sudan's trade is with Arab and Asian nations, Hamdi said.

"We have learned years ago to avoid the American banking system. I don't think anybody will be hurt by this," he said.

A prominent Khartoum financier, who asked not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Sudanese firms know how to steer clear of dollar transactions by using the euro currency instead.

Sudanese firms operate through foreign holding companies or joint ventures to evade restrictions, the financier said.

Analysts like Alex Vines, the head of the Africa programme at the British think tank Chatham House, also predicted the US sanctions will have little actual effect on Sudan's economy.

"It's more of a political signal," Vines said.

Despite more than 61,000 Save Darfur Coalition activists calling on President Bush to take effective action to protect innocent civilians in Darfur two weeks ago, the White House continues to drag its feet on launching the desperately needed "Plan B."

Nearly two months have passed since the Sudanese government thumbed its nose at President Bush's January 1st deadline to cooperate with international peacekeeping efforts and it is time to act.

The President's top advisors must guide him in taking the steps required to stop the violence in Darfur.

That is why I'm asking you to take just a few minutes out of your busy day to call Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to urge them both to launch "Plan B" before more lives are lost.


Calling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Dial (202) 647-6575 and press 1
Use the talking points below:
I'm calling because I am concerned about the violence in Darfur, Sudan.
I urge Secretary Rice to implement "Plan B" without further delay.
Nearly two months have passed since the President's January 1st deadline for the Sudan to cooperate - it's time to act.
Click here to report your call to us - it is crucial for us to know how many calls were made.
Calling Defense Secretary Robert Gates
Dial (703) 428-0711
Use the talking points below:
I'm calling because I am concerned about the violence in Darfur, Sudan.
I urge Secretary Gates to implement "Plan B" without further delay.
Nearly two months have passed since the President's January 1st deadline for the Sudan to cooperate - it's time to act.
Click here to report your call to us - it is crucial for us to know how many calls were made.

Please be polite - unlike the White House comment line operators, the staff in these offices are not used to dealing with large volumes of phone calls from concerned citizens. Your message is much more likely to reach its target if you are friendly and patient.

Without tough, coercive "Plan B" measures to accompany diplomacy, the international community's efforts to end the violence in Darfur are doomed to fail.

That is why we need your help to make sure the President's top advisors get the message ASAP.

Please follow the steps above to make your phone calls and then don't forget to report your calls back to us using the links above.

Thank you again for your support.

Best regards,

Ben Prochazka
Save Darfur Coalition

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Donate to Help Save Darfur
Help build the political pressure needed to end the crisis in Darfur by supporting the Save Darfur Coalition's crucial awareness and advocacy programs. Click here now to make a secure, tax-deductible online donation.

The Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of over 175 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations whose mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of more than two million people in the Darfur region. To learn more, please visit http://www.savedarfur.org/


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ICC to name first Darfur suspects on Tuesday By Emma Thomasson




AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor will name the first suspects accused of committing war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region on Tuesday and human rights activists hope he will pursue senior figures.

Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is expected to submit to pre-trial judges evidence against several individuals of war crimes and crimes against humanity to support arrest warrants or summonses. He is due to hold a news conference at 1300 GMT.

Moreno-Ocampo said in December his investigators had found evidence of rape, torture, murder and sexual violence in Darfur. His announcement will be closely watched to see if he charges government figures as well as rebels.

"We eagerly await the prosecutor's recommendations for holding those responsible for the gravest crimes fully accountable," said Sudanese human rights lawyer Osman Hummaida.

Experts say some 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million others driven from their homes in Darfur since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government, charging it with neglect. Khartoum says about 9,000 people have died.

In March 2005, the U.N. Security Council asked the ICC to launch an investigation into the violence in Darfur, which the United States has called genocide, a charge Khartoum denies.

"I hope the message that goes out from this action is that the days of absolute impunity that have existed for horrific crimes committed in Darfur are coming to an end," said Richard Dicker of New York-based Human Rights Watch.

U.N. and African Union observers blame pro-government militias, known as Janjaweed, for the worst atrocities.

NO JURISDICTION?

Sudan's Justice Minister Mohamed Ali al-Mardi was quoted as saying on Monday the ICC had no jurisdiction over its nationals and it would not allow anybody, including rebels, to be tried outside Sudan.

Sudanese media also reported Khartoum would put several people on trial next week, including military personnel and paramilitary troops, for suspected involvement in attacks in Darfur.

Moreno-Ocampo has said he would examine whether Sudan's government is conducting its own judicial proceedings over Darfur as the ICC is only supposed to prosecute when national courts are unwilling or unable to act.

Rights groups say Khartoum's own investigations and tribunals for crimes in Darfur have been largely for show.

Moreno-Ocampo has so far only charged rebels involved in conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

Some analysts suggest Khartoum has resisted pressure to authorize a deployment of thousands of U.N. peacekeepers to support a 7,000-strong African Union mission in Darfur because it fears U.N. soldiers might be used to arrest ICC suspects.

The ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court, started work in 2002 and is now supported by 104 nations, although still not by big powers Russia, China and the United States. Washington fiercely opposed the creation of the ICC, fearing it would be used for politically motivated prosecutions of its citizens.

The Darfur case was seen as a turning point for the court as Washington refrained from blocking the Security Council referral.

I read recently several articles in the UN news about the current events involving Darfur. What I find appalling is the amount of time, effort, and resources being spent, and propagadistically used to pat the shoulders of the UN envoys and special teams.   Read More »

Hello everyone,

I am finding that the farther I have gone academically, the more restless I have become. Since completing my educational goals (for the moment atleast) I have jumped into action. I felt tired of crying alone in the night for people I didn't know, and was exhausted by the nightmeres. So, in order to ease my suffering, I finally realized I needed to act. I live in a very rural area, yet I believe an area with a slight indication of progressivism, yet it seems there has not been a platform for these individuals to become involved in things larger than themselves.   Read More »