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Urge The Administration And Congress to Continue Their Efforts to Bring an End to the Crisis in Darfur, Sudan Why this issue is important: The humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan is now affecting some 2.2 million people. Approximately 1.2 million people are displaces inside Sudan and an estimated 180,000 refugees have fled into the neighboring Chad. Tens of thousands of people have died. At the same time, humanitarian relief efforts in the region has been difficult because of limited access to affected areas. If conditions do not improve, experts project that 300,000 people may be dead by year’s end as well as the looming rainy seasons which will make relief efforts very difficult. To date, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has pledged $1 million in private funds to assist the large numbers of refugees and displaced people and is supporting refugee camps for Sudanese in neighboring Chad. CRS President Ken Hackett and Most Reverend John Ricard, SSJ, Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee and Chairman of the International Policy Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are traveling to Darfur this week to assess the situation firsthand. CRS is preparing to significantly expand its humanitarian assistance work into the Darfur region in the upcoming weeks. Background: Years of clashes between Arab nomadic tribes and black African ethnic groups in Darfur came to a head in February 2003 when two rebel groups, the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLMA/A) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), took up arms against the Sudanese government claiming unjust treatment by the government over land and resources with their Arab neighbors. In response, the Government of Sudan along with a government-backed militia known as the Janjaweed have undertaken systematic attacks against villages linked to the two rebel groups reportedly including aerial bombardments, burning of buildings and crops, widespread killings, rapes of women and children, and looting. In July, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powel and United Nations Secretary general Kofi Annan visited the region and held high level talks with the Sudanese government. They produced concrete steps the Sudanese government must take to disarm the Janjaweed, provide access for humanitarian relief and bring an end to the conflict. What CRS is doing: CRS first began supporting relief and development programs in Sudan in 1972, when we helped resettle Sudanese displaced by a major civil war. Today, CRS operates 11 field offices in Sudan, and CRS staff arrived in Khartoum in June 2004 to expand their programming. Early this year, we began responding to the Darfur crisis, working closely with our partner SECADEV to meet the urgent needs of Sudanese refugees who crossed the border into Chad. Together, we manage three camps serving more than 37,000 refugees. CRS has committed $1 million in emergency funds and is urgently establishing outreach to serve more than two million people affected by this crisis. CRS is working in close collaboration with Caritas Internationalis and Action by Churches Together, two faith-based networks that represent most Catholic and Protestant humanitarian aid agencies. How you can help: CRS encourages the U.S. Catholic community to join us in our call for immediate international action to prevent catastrophic loss of life in Darfur and among the refugees in Chad.
Catholic Relief Services 155 E. Superior Chicago, IL 60611 “Every day that goes by is a precious day that people’s lives are being lost. This is a matter of great urgency. Practical steps have got to be taken to get food and medicine into the hands of the people who are now in great need.”- John Danforth, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
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