June 6, 2004, Ottawa Urgent Response Needed to Reverse Famine and Genocide Threat in Sudan The World Federalist Movement Canada (WFMC) is calling for Canada to take a lead role in urging the United Nations Security Council to respond to the threat of further tragedy and famine in Western Sudan. "There is a moral obligation to move humanitarian aid, to establish protective corridors and safe havens for returning refugees or citizens in flight, and to block the militias from continuing their atrocities," said the Hon. Warren Allmand, recently-elected President of the WFMC. Since February 2003, 10,000 people or more have been killed in the Darfur region. One million have been internally displaced, and an additional 100,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring Chad. The Janjawid militias, supported by the Khartoum government, have burned villages, engaged in gang-rape, destroyed livestock, and driven inhabitants from their land. Four hundred thousand refugees are now threatened by starvation and disease, and because aid workers are unable to bring in food and supplies. Despite reports from The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), the UN Security Council has failed to issue a statement condemning the Sudan government for its complicity in the actions of the militias. The Council must now be pressured by Canada and other nations to take even stronger measures to halt what some have described as "Rwanda in slow motion". WFMC urges Canada to press for a graduated series of Security Council actions addressing the famine and genocide risk. There is need for an arms embargo to prevent further escalation, and for a UN high level panel to assess culpability for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Security Council must demonstrate its willingness to intervene, authorising military force as a last resort, to arrest further ethnic cleansing. Canada as a key proponent of the "Responsibility to Protect," needs now to support the principle that the international community must respond, by intervention where appropriate, when states fail to protect their own citizens. FOR MORE INFORMATION: WFM – Canada: (613) 232-0647 (Ottawa) Warren Allmand (514) 486-1811 (Montreal) Email WFM-C: wfcnat@web.ca