Has anyone seen the statement from Darfur Refugees issued today

Question

An Urgent Message From The Refugees In Darfur

Goz Amir

August 10, 2008

The Oumda Al-Fathi and the other Oumdas (Leaders) of the refugees in the camp presented me with a document· It is in Arabic but this is the translation;

1. We agree with the decision of the International Criminal Court.

2. The refugees have no link to the International community.

But they must listen to our voices,

not the voice of Omar Al-Bashir.

3. Arrest all the guilty people immediately.

a We are connected to the IDP community in Darfur. They do not have the freedom to speak.

b We do not like African forces. We do not like the AU.

4. Disarm the Janjaweed and the military.

5. Those who occupied our land and homes must leave. Our homes must be returned to us, and our belongings.

6. We refuse to accept Government of Sudan in any humanitarian agency.

7. Stop infiltration of camps. People are entering, representing themselves as Chadians but they are Sudanese spies.

8. We need secondary schools. Our children are only given schooling up to 8th grade. If they are uneducated this means there will be more war in the future. (Education is the way for people to find things in common other than their ethnicity.

)

9. We are requesting (demanding) other return of our belongings which have been taken from us.

Compensation

10. They must arrest Omar Al-Bashir as quickly as possible or he will kill more. Just now we have heard many people are being killed.

Those who refused to celebrate Omar Al-Bashir during his visit to Darfur, he has killed them.

We are saying to the Chinese and the Russians: Please stop your guns.

We are very poor Darfuri people. We are trying to survive. This is our right. Our right must be before other things.

To the African people. Where have they gone? Where were they when we were being killed, when we have been violated? They have to see things with our eyes. Today it is the Darfurian people but tomorrow it could be them.

Yahoo have no mention of this at all, are they bending over to please the government of China a bit to much lately?

Answer 1

Talking about a conspiracy of silence, here's a bigger one. Actually, the worst humanitarian catastrophe is taking place in the Horn of Africa - Somalia. See

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blo...

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?Repo...

This has resulted from the US inspired and funded war waged by Ethopia against Somalia. Arms supplied by the west and used on the pople of Somalia have created a situation of chaos and instability. The scale of the humanitarian disaster there dwarfs anything in Darfur. Yet there has been little condemnation of the people who initiated all this. Under the orchestration of the US, there is a virtual news blackout under which resupply of Ethopia with deadly arms has been going on to keep the fight going. Are the people of Somalia less important? You judge.

Answer 2

If your message is genuine it needs to be given to the news agencies in Darfur or the many independant journalists who visit.