The Colormake Change: Sudan

Photo Credit: UN/Stuart Price

This is Leah writing on behalf of Colormake with a call to action for all of you readers with an activist bent – or for any of you who care even an inkling about peace and general human rights.

If you are reading this blog, there is a pretty good chance that you are at least somewhat familiar with the recent split between North and South Sudan that will birth our world’s newest country on July 9th. What you may not know is that despite all of Khartoum’s promises of peaceful international relations and the mutual acceptance of the new boundary lines, there is quite a bit of drama unfolding between these two nations in recent weeks.

As of Friday, an estimated 100,000 civilians have been displaced from their homes and over 60 killed in the “oil rich” region of Abyei, Sudan, due to clashes between the northern army, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the southern Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which began May 21st. Abyei is a highly disputed area on the new border between north and South Sudan due to its natural resource wealth.

One of my favorite NGOs that advocates for the people of Sudan – the Enough Project – is not just standing by and watching the firefight. Instead, they are taking a stand against the violence, and ask you to join them in voicing a strong call to action for US Foreign Policy: the imposition of consequences by the United States for Khartoum’s war crimes. These proposed consequences include essentially a reconsideration of everything we awarded to the north after Bashir accepted the secession referendum: resumption of targeted economic sanctions and consideration of returning Sudan to the “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list, in addition to the provision of humanitarian aid to Sudanese civilians.

You can join the movement by sending a message to Obama HERE.

*Closing note: Many people tend to get a bit bored with “just add your name to this message and change the world” campaigns, so I’d suggest spicing up the letter contents; share with Obama’s staffers (the ones who will actually be reading these messages) why this issue is so important to you as an American.

-L

Leah Fantle is a co-founder of The One World Initiative at American University, where she is a junior. She is also a researcher and writer for Colormake. Email her at fantle.oneworld@gmail.com.