We, as Jews, appreciate President Obama’s speech in Israel two weeks ago, connecting Passover, freedom, peace and security. We strongly and respectfully urge the president to provide the same level of support and action for the people of Sudan, who are struggling to survive and to claim their own freedom from a brutal regime.
We note that the president said, “[Passover] is a story about finding freedom in your own land … [The story of the Exodus] spoke to a yearning within every human being for a home.”
With respect to security, he stated, “I think about children … the same age as my daughters, who went to bed … fearful that a rocket would land in their bedroom simply because of who they are and where they live.”
Regarding tyranny, Obama said, “[T]he world cannot tolerate an organization that murders innocent civilians … and supports the massacre of men, women and children in Syria.”
Approaching Yom HaShoah, we recall the president spoke similar words about Darfur and other current genocides in the Days of Remembrance speeches during his first term — without taking actions to back them up. We hope when the president reminds the nation in 2013 that remembrance alone is not enough, he instructs his administration to create and implement a comprehensive new foreign policy toward Sudan.
Many challenges faced by the Jewish people are common to all who struggle against brutality and tyranny and for justice, dignity and freedom.
The administration’s Sudan policy, amounting to appeasement, has contributed to a resumption of regular aerial bombing of Darfur, a region in western Sudan, and the geographic expansion of mass atrocities. The president should appoint a special envoy reporting directly and only to him to carry the new, more effective policy not only to Sudan but globally, so that Sudan cannot continue killing its civilians without consequences.
We ask specifically that:
• The U.S. accept that the government of Sudan has never honored an agreement and stop supporting it. Instead, the U.S. should help guide the Sudanese to a democratic transformation.
• The policy consider Sudan as a whole rather than a series of separate conflicts; the root cause of each conflict is the abusive government.
• All peace negotiations include all of the rebel movements and unarmed opposition as well as civil society in multiple regions, particularly women.
• As the ruling party historically has responded to pressure, not collaboration, the U.S. strengthen (and enforce) sanctions against Sudan and encourage the international community to do the same.
• The U.S. build an international coalition to isolate the current ruling party, including not supporting economic conferences such as that planned in Doha; under the current regime, any proceeds would support the government’s killing of civilians.
• The U.S. actively lead the international community in facilitating arrest of those for whom the ICC has issued arrest warrants.
• U.S. aid resources support strengthening the capacity of marginalized leaders and civil society in Sudan who could lead it to democracy.
Credible reports indicate that Sudan is hosting Mali jihadists in Darfur. The alliance between Iran and Sudan continues to strengthen. Iranian weapons are made in Sudan, including weapons for Hamas and Hezbollah. We urge a revised U.S. policy as Sudan, a supporter of terrorists, is also a threat to security in the region, in Israel, and to the national security of the United States.
We prayed at our seders that peace, freedom and security in Sudan become an immediate priority of the president’s second term.
As we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, we honor all those who perished and those who saved others.
Our hope is that by Yom HaShoah next year, Obama’s legacy also will include having taken effective action to help end genocide in Sudan and advance the reality of peace, freedom and security for the Sudanese.
Gerri Miller is founder and coordinator of Dear Sudan, Love Marin. She and Martina Knee are directors of the S.F. Bay Area Darfur Coalition. Melanie Nelkin, the chair of the Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide, also contributed to this piece. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/DarfurSF.