Act for Sudan just published a press release regarding the upcoming ‘Sudan-South Sudan Economic Conference‘ that will take place in Berlin on Tuesday, January 29 2013.
Conference will “help to fund more atrocities against civilians,” say groups. Here is the press release explaining the goal of this joint letter. Even if we didn’t sign it, we support it.
As Germany prepares for a conference in Berlin on January 29 to promote investments in Sudan, human rights organizations, genocide scholars and Sudan advocates around the world sent an open letter to the German government asking that the conference be cancelled. The letter states, “Efforts to promote investments in Sudan are premature and put the international community at risk of funding a government that continues to perpetrate massive human rights violations against its own people.”
The letter was signed by 68 international organizations, 14 genocide scholars and other notable human rights advocates. Among those signing were genocide experts Eric Reeves and Sam Totten, and Hawa Abdallah Mohammed Salih, U.S. Department of State 2012 International Women of Courage Award Winner. The letter was coordinated by Act for Sudan, a bipartisan, interfaith alliance of American and Sudanese grassroots advocacy groups.
The letter warns that holding the conference would place “Germany squarely in the role of generating financial support for the genocidal Sudanese regime. ” It states, “The National Congress Party (NCP) regime in Sudan, led by a president indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, is causing the death, starvation, displacement, and destruction of livelihood of Sudanese civilians in Darfur, Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan and the Blue Nile state.”
“Without real, on-the-ground progress in Sudan, Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Darfur, Sudan’s history of genocidal violence makes it extremely likely that this conference, hosted by Germany, will help to fund more atrocities against civilians. Please cancel the conference to avoid raising funds that will help support genocide,” the letter concludes.
Read more on Act for Sudan website.
