Darfur Student Activists,

This Wednesday, August 24, the Darfur rebel groups and the Sudanese government will meet to begin peace talks in Nigeria. These historic and critical peace talks need strong and sustained international support if they are to succeed.  The US State Department is sending 13 representatives to the peace talks, and Congresspeople will be lobbying the White House and State Department to actively pursue a successful peace agreement between the two parties.

LET'S MAKE THIS THE END OF THE DARFUR GENOCIDE.

To make sure that our Congressmen/women lobby the State Department in support of the peace talks, we each need to call our members of Congress and tell them to sign their names to Senator Corzine and Senator Brownback's letter to President Bush and the US State Department asking for a peace agreement and protection for Darfurians.

Please call your members of Congress on Monday morning and ask them to sign on to Sen. Corzine, Rep. Payne, and Sen. Brownback's letter.  Also, ask at least 20 other people to join you -- friends and family are easy.  Please get as many people as you can to join in.

The two major points about which we are calling were developed in coordination with John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group, Tom Perriello of Res Publica, and Gitta Zomorodi of American Jewish World Service.

Here are all the resources you need to call and write to your members of Congress:

Find your Congressperson's contact information here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
Write to members of Congress and the President.

Include these two points in your phone calls and letters to your members of Congress:

1. The State Department must provide capacity-building support to the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) in the areas of negotiations, media, and diplomacy.  It is essential, not only to the achievement of a peace accord but also to the future stability of Sudan, that the SLA's internal divisions are reconciled and that the SLA become a political party (Sudanese Liberation Movement) so that it can participate in Sudan's government.

2. The State Department must push for an expansion in the African Union's mandate to include the protection of Darfurian civilians and an increase in the number of AU troops in Darfur from 3,000 to 15,000 by September 30, 2005.

Please feel free to contact Jake with any questions.  As Jake says, let's show the US government that students do matter and that OUR VOICES WILL BE HEARD!

Jake Sommer
University of Washington
973-919-9460
Zett20@...

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Sara Weisman


"Never again" – please join me in helping stop the genocide in Darfur
Visit http://www.savedarfur.org/ to learn more.

2020 F Street NW
Apartment 418
Washington, DC 20006
Sara.Weisman@...
609-937-3190