PHR: email or fax AU Chair Konare to help civilians in Darfur - International Women's Day not observed by Sudan's New Government of Unity

On International Women's Day [read Janjaweed rape babies] 8 March 2006, Irish aid agency GOAL Sudan team helped some rural Sudanese women to gain more respect and autonomy from the men in the community.

GOAL's schooling for girls and adult education for women has proved a winning combination in improving the position of women in a rural village in north Sudan.

In Rumbek, the South Sudan government together with NGOs, UN agencies and other institutions took the opportunity of International Women's Day to press for the observance of women's rights in Sudanese liberated areas of SPLM/A, reports Sudan Tribune but, sadly, the article makes no mention of the rest of Sudan.

Contact the AU chairman, Mr Alpha Oumar Konare, and urge him to support an expanded peacekeeping force in Darfur

Here is a message to us all from Physicians for Human Rights March 8, 2006:

On International Women's Day: Take action to help civilians in Darfur

As we celebrate International Women's Day, tens of thousands of Sudanese women are at risk of being raped, both in Darfurand in refugee camps in Chad. Government-sponsored militias continue to kill civilians in the Darfur region, and now the violence is spilling over into neighboring Chad. Yet there are only 7,000 African Union soldiers patrolling this region, which is the size of France.

At the United Nations there is growing momentum to transition the under-resourced African Union force into a United Nations peacekeeping force. On March 10, leaders of the African Union will meet to decide whether to invite a United Nations peacekeeping mission to join or supplant the current AU mission. This is a critical opportunity to call for a UN force large enough to protect civilians under threat in Darfur.

On International Women's Day, please join PHR in taking action to help civilians in Darfur!

What you can do:

Please contact the AU chairman, Mr. Alpha Oumar Konare, and urge him to support an expanded peacekeeping force in Darfur.

See our website to learn more:
http://www.phrusa.org/research/sudan/

[Note link leads to a sample letter urging Mr Konare to exercise his leadership by formally requesting from the UN Security Council an effective transition of the AU forces to a Chapter 7 UN peacekeeping operation. I have now emailed Mr Konare and signed it with my full name and link to this blog entry]

What You Can Do Now

E-Mail or Fax Mr Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairman of the African Union Commission

Declare your support for this vital intervention as the only way to adequately protect the lives and safety of civilians in Darfur.

Contact information for Chairman Konare:
E-mail: KonareAO@africa-union.org
Fax: (251) 11 5513036
Tel: (251) 11 5514554 / (251) 11 551 77 00 ext. 120
- - -

Mar 8 2006 Press Release by Darfur-Canadian Women Association
E-mail: darfurwomen@yahoo.ca
Telephone: (403) 217-9121
- - -

Statement by the Women Delegates to the Darfur Peace Talks, in Abuja, Nigeria, on the Occasion Of the International Women’s Day March 8, 2006.
- - -

Mar 8 2006 From the UN website, this early history of International Women's Day - with thanks to DSTPFW.