Americans rally for Darfur

WASHINGTON -- Tens of thousands of Americans from across the country rallied here yesterday to demand an end to genocide in Sudan's Darfur region, marking the first massive US outcry since the government-backed killings of civilians erupted there in 2003.

Busloads of university students, evangelical Christians, Jewish groups, teachers' unions, and African-American civic organizations packed the National Mall in front of the Capitol, chanting ''enough is enough" and waving placards that read ''stop the genocide."

''You are here today to shine a bright light on the horrors and to show the world that America will not stand quietly by while the genocide continues," US Representative Michael E. Capuano, a Somerville Democrat, told the cheering crowd. ''I am here to tell you that your elected leaders are listening."

The rally, one of several that took place across the country yesterday, aimed to push the US government to take stronger measures to help civilians in Darfur who were maimed, raped, or driven from their homes by government-backed Arab militias.

The killings began in February 2003, when two rebel groups had stepped up their armed struggle against the government in Khartoum. The government responded by arming the militias, known as Janjaweed, who began killing civilians of non-Arab tribes that they considered sympathetic to the rebels, according to State Department officials.

The Janjaweed attacks, which US officials and human rights groups say have been supported by Sudanese government helicopters, have caused 3 million people to flee their homes for barren refugee camps. Hundreds of thousands have died from violence, malnutrition, and disease.

''We are here because of leaders who are timorous, complacent, and unwilling to take risks," Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, author, and Nobel laureate told the crowd. ''We want them to take risks and stop the massacre."

Congress and President Bush have declared the killings in Darfur to be genocide. Yet $50 million that the United States pledged in support of the ill-equipped African Union troops who are protecting civilians there has been tied up for months in bureaucratic wrangling. The United States also supports transferring the task of protecting civilians to the United Nations, which has more resources than the African Union, but so far Russia and China have blocked the move.

Bush met Friday with seven Darfur activists, including the Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, co-pastor of Bethel AME Church in Jamaica Plain.

Hammond, who also helped organize yesterday's rally, said that the activists asked Bush to appoint a special envoy for Darfur and he seemed receptive to the idea for the first time.

''We need him to act with greater urgency," she said. ''Our frustration has been over the last few years as we watched this genocide occur. This administration has been too slow."

International inaction on Darfur has created an unlikely coalition of passionate protesters -- from Christian conservatives to African-American civic groups and Jewish activists.

Yesterday, T-shirts, banners, and signs showed the diverse backgrounds of the protesters. The Baltimore Teachers' Union. A Texas chapter of Young Judea, a Jewish youth group. A group called New Yorkers Against Genocide.

''We are responding to a conflict in a part of the world that a lot of people don't know exists," Kim Stietz, interim director for international policy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. ''From a spiritual perspective, we are called to be a voice for the voiceless."

''I feel like the entire Jewish community of New York is here," said a young member of the Ansche Chesed congregation, a synagogue in New York. ''I'm here because it would just be a disgrace for Jews not to be here."

The permit for the rally estimated a turnout of 10,000 to 15,000 people, but several of the speakers said they felt that the crowd was larger than expected.

Actor George Clooney spoke, just after returning from a trip to Africa. So did Congressman Tom Lantos, Democrat of California, who was arrested Friday protesting at the Sudanese Embassy.

In the crowd below, giant puppets in African clothing cradled a puppet of a dead baby. A boy on his father's back held up a sign that said, ''Now you know."

''I think this is a breakthrough," said Roann Rubin, of Glen Rock, N.J., who said her town of 12,000 people organized 17 busloads of rally participants from northern New Jersey. She said so many people wanted to come because of a successful effort by the town's interfaith coalition of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Baha'i, and Sikh groups.

The size and spirit of the crowd surprised Salih Khatir, a 37-year-old from Darfur who moved to New York four years ago. ''It's amazing," he said. ''I can't believe it."

Khatir said the Janjaweed attacked his village of Marla about eight months ago, killing many of his aunts and uncles and forcing his grandparents into a refugee camp.

''They lost everything," he said, adding that he felt the root cause of the violence was the refusal of the Arab government in Khartoum to share power with the non-Arab tribes in Darfur.

Khatir, who traveled with four busloads of Sudanese from New York, said the rally gave him hope that international pressure would persuade Khartoum to agree to a power-sharing deal with the rebels in Darfur.

But the government of Sudan said in a statement on its embassy website that the rally would make it harder to broker a peace deal.

''The message that will be sent by the demonstrators to the Darfur rebels is: Don't Make Peace. The US supports you," the statement read.

Indeed, peace talks between the rebels and the Khartoum government faltered in Nigeria yesterday after rebel groups rejected a peace agreement that Sudan's government had said it would support. A spokesman for the rebels said the deal did not give enough autonomy to Darfur. The African Union said last night the talks would continue for another 48 hours.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick responded by urging the parties to try harder to finalize a peace accord. ''Much good work has been done, and should not be allowed to slip away," he said. ''Today in Washington and other cities, many Americans are gathering to express their concerns over the tragedy in Darfur. People want a solution."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.