Courtesy of the Henry Jackson Society:
Alarmed by the continuing murder of the black people of Darfur by the Janjaweed militias - supported by the Sudanese regime in Khartoum - The Henry Jackson Society decided that more appropriate and concerted action by the world’s great democracies should be requested from leading governments. Accordingly, The Henry Jackson Society issued an open letter on the crisis in Darfur, signed by fifty-five politicians, opinion formers, academics and journalists, to both raise awareness of this pressing moral and strategic issue, and call on the international community to end ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
The open letter has been sent to the High Representative for European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy, Dr. Javier Solana; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rt. Hon. Tony Blair MP; Chancellor of Germany, Dr. Angela Merkel; President of France, M. Jacques Chirac; President of the United States, Mr. George W. Bush; Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh; and President of South Africa, Mr. Thabo Mbeki. It was sent also to the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett MP and the Secretary of State for Defence, Rt. Hon. Des Browne MP.
An open letter on the crisis in Darfur to the leaders of the European Union, the United States, India, South Africa, and other great democracies.
After the Holocaust, the world said ‘never again’ to genocide. Yet our will to prevent the murder and destruction of particular peoples was not sufficient to stop further genocides, even in the closing years of the last century. The genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia are a scar on the conscience of the world, and they led to insecurity and suffering on a scale which is beyond comprehension.
Today, in the early years of a new century the world stares in the hideous face of genocide once again. In Darfur, the black population faces annihilation at the hands of Arab Janjaweed and other militias, supported by the Sudanese regime in Khartoum. This is not a civil war or a religious conflict, but a calculated strategy of intimidation and ethnic cleansing. It is designed to kill, remove or enslave black people in Darfur. 200,000 have already been murdered, with a further two million driven from their homes.
We therefore urge our leaders – of the European Union and its member-states, the United States of America, India, South Africa, and other democratic nations the world over – to ensure that genocide does not destroy the people of Darfur. And although a genocide in Darfur is a serious moral issue, it is also a concern paramount to European security. Should the situation deteriorate further, it will spill over and damage an already unstable region, creating a breeding ground for extremism and terror. Moreover, we have a clear strategic interest to prevent attempts by the People’s Republic of China to support repressive regimes in Africa in return for energy concessions.
In light of such circumstances, we call on our governments to empower and fund the African Union, so that it has one last chance to deal with the crisis. Meanwhile, our leaders must apply as much pressure as may be required on the Sudanese regime in order to make it cooperate with the international community. Khartoum must allow international forces with a robust mandate into Darfur to reverse ethnic cleansing and re-establish the rule of law, in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706. Should this cooperation not be forthcoming, we call on our governments to take all the necessary action – insofar as is possible in coordination with the United Nations – to ensure that the people of Darfur are protected, and that those driven from their livelihoods be allowed to return to their homes. This may require the speedy deployment of peace enforcers and the establishment of no-fly zones, in order to prevent the Sudanese regime from assisting the Janjaweed in their murder.
For many months, Darfur has stood on a precipice; today, it is very close to falling off into a dark age of chaos, carnage and genocidal murder. We must not let this happen.
Supported by (institutional affiliation listed only for means of identification),
Karim Abdian - Director, Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation
Mansour Silawi Ahwazi - Foreign Relations, Democratic Solidarity Party of Al-Ahwaz
Michael Allen - Editor, Democracy Digest
Nasser Bani Assad - President, British Ahwazi Friendship Society
Paul Beaver - Commentator and Parliamentary Advisor, United Kingdom
Prof. Vernon Bogdanor - Professor of Government, University of Oxford
Nicholas Boles - Director, Policy Exchange
Roberta Bonazzi - Director, European Foundation for Democracy
Max Boot - Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Daniel Brett - Director, British Ahwazi Friendship Society
Chris Bryant MP - Member of Parliament (Labour), United Kingdom
David Clelland MP - Member of Parliament (Labour), United Kingdom
Humphry Crum Ewing - Chairman, The Standish Group
Yahia Elbashir - Human Rights Secretary, Darfur Union
David Gauke MP - Member of Parliament (Conservative), United Kingdom
Michael Gove MP - Member of Parliament (Conservative), United Kingdom
Robert Halfon - Political Director, Conservative Friends of Israel
Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann - Founder and President, World Security Network
Gary Kent - Director, Labour Friends of Iraq (Personal Capacity)
Daniel Keohane - Centre for European Reform
Dr. William Kristol - Editor, The Weekly Standard
Bruce Jackson - President, Project on Transitional Democracies
Prof. Alan Johnson - Editor, Democratiya
Henry Knobil
Jackie Lawrence - Member of Parliament (Labour), 1997-2005, United Kingdom
The Hon. John Lehman - Secretary of the United States Navy, 1981-1987
Prof. Andrew Lever - University of Cambridge
Dr. Andrew Lilico - Managing Director, Europe Economics
Gideon Mailer - Africa Director, The Henry Jackson Society
Dr. Alan Mendoza - Executive Director, The Henry Jackson Society
Jan Mortier - Director, Civitatis International
Michael Mosbacher - Director, The Social Affairs Unit
Douglas Murray - Senior Fellow, The Social Affairs Unit
Fionnuala Jay O’Boyle MBE - Jay Associates Public and Government Affairs
Robert Philpot - Director, Progress
Dr. Efraim Podosik - Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Stephen Pollard - Columnist, The Times
Greg Pope MP - Member of Parliament (Labour), United Kingdom
Ben Ramm - Editor, The Liberal
Ben Rogers - Deputy Chairman, Conservatives’ Human Rights Commission
James M. Rogers - Executive Secretary, The Henry Jackson Society
Prof. William Rubinstein - University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Prof. Roger Scruton - University of Arlington
Dr. Gary Schmitt - Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Dr. Brendan Simms - Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge
Alex Singleton - Director-General, The Globalisation Institute
Dr. Ulrich Speck - Commentator and Journalist
Eva Strickmann - German Council on Foreign Relations
Gisela Stuart MP - Member of Parliament (Labour), United Kingdom
Peter Tatchell - Human Rights Campaigner
Rebecca Tinsley - Waging Peace
Lord Trimble - Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 1998
Tomáš Weiss - Institute for European Policy EUROPEUM
Stuart Wheeler - Founder of IG Index
Prof. Alan Lee Williams - Director, Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom
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