Published: March 12, 2008 12:56 pm      

Voices from Darfur campaign at Berry tonight

Submitted by Berry College



ROME — Survivors of the genocide in Sudan’s western region of Darfur will tell their stories to an audience in Berry College’s Evans Auditorium at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, as part of the Save Darfur Coalition’s Voices from Darfur campaign – a national speaking tour featuring Darfuri refugees. Admission is free and open to the public.

According to the Save Darfur Coalition, as many as 400,000 people are estimated to have died in Darfur since February 2003 and 2.5 million have been displaced as a result of what President Bush and Congress have called genocide. Suffering in Darfur continues to intensify as a result of the genocide, which is sponsored by the Sudanese government and perpetrated by the Janjaweed militias. In June 2007, a U.N. spokesperson stated that nearly 140,000 civilians have been displaced since the beginning of the year. Four million people are now affected by the crisis, which has spread from Sudan into neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic.

“People everywhere need to see what is happening in Darfur,” said Daoud Hari, one of the speakers. “I am here today because there is hope. There is hope because people around the world who care about Darfur are asking their governments to take action.”

The event is being sponsored by the Berry chapter of Amnesty International, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Interfaith Council, the Department of Government and International Studies, the Model UN and EMPOWER. Call (706) 236-5094 for more information.