U.S. and European media

November 16, 2022

Louisville Courier-Journal: Darfur on the agenda.  As a candidate, Barack Obama pledged to make resolving the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region a priority, and the Save Dafur Coalition is holding President Obama to his word.  "China has been a large part of the problem," Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, told The Courier-Journal's editorial board last week. And what the coalition wants, he explained, is for Mr. Obama to challenge China's policy of non-interference in Sudan's domestic affairs and to make a strong pitch to President Hu Jintao that China's huge oil investments in Sudan will be better protected if the U.S. and China work together to try to achieve a negotiated peace in Darfur.  As for Mr. Fowler, he's fired up. He argues that Mr. Obama's China trip is "a critical test of his commitment" to end the bloodshed in Darfur, and so he wrote on the Huffington Post blog, "I for one will be watching closely, and calling him out if he doesn't" raise the issue while in China. Those are fighting words, well-directed.

Reuters: Six groups suspend aid in Chad after killing and kidnap. Six aid groups have suspended operations in eastern Chad following the killing of one worker, the kidnapping of another and a spate of banditry, the United Nations said.  The move could hit thousands of people who either have fled the Darfur conflict in neighboring Sudan or suffer at the hands of Chad rebels who have long operated in the area.  "To date, five NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) have temporarily suspended their activities in the east," Elisabeth Byrs, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a news briefing.  Byrs said around 37 000 people, often living in vulnerable conditions, would be affected by the suspension.

AFP: Sudan calls for all sides to resume Darfur talks.  An aide to Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Saturday called for all sides to take part in talks aimed at ending the Darfur conflict, which are due to resume in Qatar.  Ghazi Salaheddine told reporters at the Sudanese embassy in Paris that no one person should have a right of veto over a possible peace deal -- a reference to a former rebel leader currently in exile in the French capital.  Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur, the ex-leader of the Sudanese Liberation Army, is refusing to take part in discussions due to resume in Doha in a few days.  In February an agreement was struck between the Darfuri rebel Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese government, which opened the way to a prisoner exchange and eventual peace conference.  Salaheddine also said he had had talks with high-ranking French officials with a view to improving and strengthening relations between Sudan and France.

The Record: Effort to mark Darfur genocide ends with thousands of shoes for needy.  A clergyman's six-month effort to bring awareness to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur culminated Sunday with the collection and display of 15,000 pairs of shoes at Westfield Garden State Plaza.  While visiting Washington this spring, the Rev. Ken Vander Wall of North Haledon was inspired by a display along the reflecting pool near the Capitol: 30,000 pairs of shoes, collected by Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Va., representing 300,000 deaths the Darfur region in Sudan has seen since the start of a war in 2003. "I saw this and said, 'Why can't we do this in New Jersey?" said Vander Wall, who serves as campus pastor for William Paterson University in Wayne and Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck.  He also chose the same route to donate the shoes the Briar Woods High School students took. He arranged to send them to the non-profit Soles4Souls in Nashville, which collects shoes for those in need in the U.S. and around the world.

The Darfur Daily News is a service of the Save Darfur Coalition. To subscribe to the Daily News, please email [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact Ashley Roberts at (202) 478-6181, or [email protected].