Darfur
Unfortunately none of the efforts are enough but a bit of awareness is better than none at all. Darfur is just one part the problem in Sudan.
SUDAN: Darfur aid pledge 'not enough,' says Christian leader
[Ecumenical News International] A
Christian leader in the Horn of Africa has welcomed a Sudanese
government pledge of US$300 million in aid for Sudan's Darfur region,
but said it is insufficient, and should not distract attention from the
underlying causes of the conflict.
"It is a positive step but it is not enough," the Rev. Fred Nyabera,
executive director of the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches
in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa, told Ecumenical News
International in Nairobi, Kenya on October 3. Nyabera was commenting on reports that Sudanese President Omar
Hassan al-Bashir had promised the multi-million dollar aid package in a
meeting with a group known as "the Elders," led by Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter. Former South African President Nelson Mandela created the
group, which also includes child rights activist Graca Machel, former
U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and billionaire British businessman Richard
Branson. "He [the Sudanese president] promised us there would be US$300
million in all coming to the Darfur region in compensation, US$100
million coming from the government, and US$200 million to be a loan
from the Chinese," the Reuters news agency quoted Carter as saying in
the northern Darfur town of Kebkabiya. Nyabere told ENI that churches working for peace in Darfur were
often disappointed that the crisis was used as a "bargaining chip,"
while people were suffering. "The real issues have never been sufficiently addressed," he said. "The focus has always been on the consequences." The Elders were visiting Darfur following the killing of 10 African
Union peacekeeping soldiers on September 29 in Darfur's Haskanita area
after rebels overran their post. More than 20 other soldiers are said
to be missing. Tutu urged the international community to constitute a peacekeeping
force adequate for the role it is intended to fulfill. "We need to have
the hybrid force deployed as quickly as possible," Tutu told reporters
in Darfur on October 1. "It's awful that it should be allowed to be
here when it is so inadequately equipped."
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