19-August-2004 -- ACI Prensa Servicios de Noticias
PENSACOLA, USA, August 19 (CNA) - In a telephone
press conference given yesterday, Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, chairman of the
USCCB International Policy Committee, expressed his conviction that the direct
involvement of President Bush and the U.S. government are needed to resolve the
crisis in Darfur, Sudan, which he called "the world's worst humanitarian
situation of the present time." Bishop Ricard, of the diocese of
Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, had recently returned from a trip to Darfur in
which he visited various camps on the Sudanese border and in Chad, which are
occupied by nearly 2.5 million people who have been forced from their villages
by government-backed Arab militias known as the "Janjaweed."
The people in the camps, according to Bishop Ricard, are in a state of
constant anxiety and fear of being attacked. There is not enough food and it
doesn't come with any regularity, and the women are regularly raped when they
leave the camp to fetch supplies or firewood. The displaced have tried to return
to their villages but when they do they are attacked and some killed.
While the conflict has been on for decades, the Janjaweed have killed an
estimated 30,000 Black Muslims in the Darfur region in the last 17 months.
According to Bishop Ricard, who has been visiting Sudan for 12 years, and has
met with several government officials, the Sudanese government is ruled by a
small elite who believe that Sudan is an Islamic country, but also believe that
it should be arabized, which explains the attacks on the region of Darfur in
which the people are predominantly Black Muslims.
The bishop expressed his fear that the peace process, which is moving towards
bringing an end to the 20 year civil war in Sudan, may be derailed by the
situation in Darfur.
"We must be convinced that the only way the crisis will be resolved is
through the direct involvement of our government and our president." The
situation requires the continued contributions of donors, the continued
involvement of the U.N., "and that the U.S. specifically focus on moving
the peace process forward. Without that there will be no chance of resolving the
situation." Ken Hackett, head of Catholic Relief Services, who accompanied
Bishop Ricard to Darfur and was present at the conference said that "the
purpose of the trip was to try to express the solidarity of the Church in the
U.S. with the suffering Church in Sudan."
Hackett, addressing the situation in the camps, said that people were on the
brink of starving to death. "People are going to die if we do not send
supplies and aid to them more quickly and in an environment in which allows them
to get through. If there is a lack of security in the region, it will be
impossible for supplies to get there and people will die."
John Carr, of the USCCB Department of Social Development and World Peace,
also present at the conference, said that the decision of the U.S. bishops to
devote this coming sunday to preaching, prayer and a special collection for the
people of Darfur is "unprecedented." "We have to act, and we have
to act now," he said. "We don't know enough...we are not doing
enough."
"We appeal to Catholics in the U.S.," said Bishop Ricard, because
we know they will be ready to respond."