ENGLAND/FILE: Activists and religious leaders focus on "forgotten war" in Darfur

Peace activists around the world staged a day of action on Sunday (September 17) to highlight the "forgotten war" in Darfur where tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million left homeless. In London, demonstrators wearing blue berets similar to those worn by UN peacekeepers gathered outside the Sudanese embassy in the centre of the capital to demand immediate action from the British government to stop the conflict. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders delivered a plea and said prayers outside the Downing Street residence of Prime Minister Tony Blair. International human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have declared Sunday a global Day for Darfur and organisers said protests and rallies were planned in major cities worldwide. Critics say the world has lost sight of Darfur amid the conflicts in Iraq, the Middle East and Afghanistan. Darfur, the western region of Sudan bordering Chad has been plagued by political and ethnic violence since 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government. A new estimate of the number of people killed in Darfur published last week put the toll at 200,000 or more. And the more than 2 million people displaced by conflict have created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Western leaders, some African presidents and humanitarian groups are piling pressure on Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to accept a U.N. resolution to deploy more than 20,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur. The mandate for 7,000 poorly equipped African Union (AU) troops expires on Sept. 30 and Sudan has said they would only be allowed to extend the mission if they remained under AU control. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Saturday (September 16) he would propose an incentive package for Sudan as part of a new initiative to end the crisis in war-torn Darfur and get U.N. peacekeeping troops on the ground.

ITN Source | September 18, 2006

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