By Kenneth Todd Ruiz Staff Writer
Pasadena Star News (Pasadena, Calif., USA)
PASADENA - Sara Lim-Pol's numbing story of Cambodia's killing fields originated from another continent but laid in parallel to Paul Rudatsikira's exodus a decade later from Rwanda.
Putting faces and names to the word "genocide" to muster awareness of its presence in Sudan, Rep. Adam Schiff brought survivors from three separate episodes to Pasadena on Tuesday at an event hosted by the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center.
"This is the first time in history that a genocide has been declared while it's going on," Schiff, D-Pasadena, said before introducing the three survivors. "Half a world away, we know there is a genocide going on - right now."
Lim-Pol provided a firsthand account of life after the Khmer Rouge reset the calendar to "Year Zero" by purging Cambodia's urban centers and forcing the populace into the countryside.
She survived the revolution for six years - sometimes digging graves with other children - and watched as her family members died.
"My brothers all died, one week at a time," she said. After finding her mother near death, Lim-Pol escaped with her to Thailand in 1981 before a Catholic charity loaned them money to fly to the United States in 1983.
Deng Chol, 29, was one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan" who was orphaned during the second Sudanese civil war, which killed about 2 million, many of which were civilians.
Chol explained the complexities behind the Darfur conflict, where the government-backed Janjaweed militia have killed and raped non-Arab civilians west of the capital of Khartoum.
It was mostly boys away from their villages who survived - most girls were reportedly killed, raped or taken away as slaves.
The Sudanese government has described the conflict in its Darfur region as an "internal security matter" and denied that it has supported the Janjaweed militias.
Many promises were made after nearly 1 million people were killed within 100 days in Rwanda in 1994, and it was with some indignation that Rudatsikira recounted his family's fortunate escape from the carnage.
"The genocides that happened in Rwanda and Cambodia, that happened all over the world, should not be allowed to happen again in Darfur," Rudatsikira said.
Counting the dead from any conflict is subject to politics, and the human toll in Darfur is subject to debate. Most estimates seem to average upward of 450,000 killed and more than 2 million displaced.
The United States and the international community has failed to take sufficient action with respect to the Darfur, Schiff said, despite after-the-fact knowledge of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Armenia, Germany, Cambodia and only a decade ago in Rwanda.
But it also comes at a time when unilateral action by the United States isn't enough.
China's ascendant economy and consumption of resources, such as Sudanese oil, fuels the Khartoum government despite U.S. action, while the occupation of Iraq has undercut our influence, Schiff said.
"The fact we're so tied down and focused on Iraq and Afghanistan and that our diplomatic strength and credibility has been eroded hurts us," Schiff said in an interview before the forum. "But that's no excuse for not being able to do everything we can.
Schiff supported the Sudan Divestment Act passed by the House of Representatives two weeks ago, which bars federal contracts going to companies considered "culpable" in the Sudanese genocide.
That same day, the U.N. Security Council approved a peacekeeping force to augment the African Union Forces already deployed to little effect there.
Indeed, the United Nations has struggled to transition from mitigating strife between nations, Schiff said, to finding its footing in conflicts contained inside the sovereign borders of one.
Tuesday, he encouraged the at-capacity temple audience to lobby for action, divest themselves from Sudan and call for pressure on China.
"There's a lot more China can do, there's a lot more we can do," he said.
Genocide is a recurring theme for Schiff, who this week gained his 227th supporter in the House for his resolution compelling the U.S. government to formally classify the killing of 1.5 million Armenians 90 years ago.
todd.ruiz@sgvn.com
(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444
Putting faces and names to the word "genocide" to muster awareness of its presence in Sudan, Rep. Adam Schiff brought survivors from three separate episodes to Pasadena on Tuesday at an event hosted by the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center.
"This is the first time in history that a genocide has been declared while it's going on," Schiff, D-Pasadena, said before introducing the three survivors. "Half a world away, we know there is a genocide going on - right now."
Lim-Pol provided a firsthand account of life after the Khmer Rouge reset the calendar to "Year Zero" by purging Cambodia's urban centers and forcing the populace into the countryside.
She survived the revolution for six years - sometimes digging graves with other children - and watched as her family members died.
"My brothers all died, one week at a time," she said. After finding her mother near death, Lim-Pol escaped with her to Thailand in 1981 before a Catholic charity loaned them money to fly to the United States in 1983.
Deng Chol, 29, was one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan" who was orphaned during the second Sudanese civil war, which killed about 2 million, many of which were civilians.
Chol explained the complexities behind the Darfur conflict, where the government-backed Janjaweed militia have killed and raped non-Arab civilians west of the capital of Khartoum.
It was mostly boys away from their villages who survived - most girls were reportedly killed, raped or taken away as slaves.
The Sudanese government has described the conflict in its Darfur region as an "internal security matter" and denied that it has supported the Janjaweed militias.
Many promises were made after nearly 1 million people were killed within 100 days in Rwanda in 1994, and it was with some indignation that Rudatsikira recounted his family's fortunate escape from the carnage.
"The genocides that happened in Rwanda and Cambodia, that happened all over the world, should not be allowed to happen again in Darfur," Rudatsikira said.
Counting the dead from any conflict is subject to politics, and the human toll in Darfur is subject to debate. Most estimates seem to average upward of 450,000 killed and more than 2 million displaced.
The United States and the international community has failed to take sufficient action with respect to the Darfur, Schiff said, despite after-the-fact knowledge of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Armenia, Germany, Cambodia and only a decade ago in Rwanda.
But it also comes at a time when unilateral action by the United States isn't enough.
China's ascendant economy and consumption of resources, such as Sudanese oil, fuels the Khartoum government despite U.S. action, while the occupation of Iraq has undercut our influence, Schiff said.
"The fact we're so tied down and focused on Iraq and Afghanistan and that our diplomatic strength and credibility has been eroded hurts us," Schiff said in an interview before the forum. "But that's no excuse for not being able to do everything we can.
Schiff supported the Sudan Divestment Act passed by the House of Representatives two weeks ago, which bars federal contracts going to companies considered "culpable" in the Sudanese genocide.
That same day, the U.N. Security Council approved a peacekeeping force to augment the African Union Forces already deployed to little effect there.
Indeed, the United Nations has struggled to transition from mitigating strife between nations, Schiff said, to finding its footing in conflicts contained inside the sovereign borders of one.
Tuesday, he encouraged the at-capacity temple audience to lobby for action, divest themselves from Sudan and call for pressure on China.
"There's a lot more China can do, there's a lot more we can do," he said.
Genocide is a recurring theme for Schiff, who this week gained his 227th supporter in the House for his resolution compelling the U.S. government to formally classify the killing of 1.5 million Armenians 90 years ago.
todd.ruiz@sgvn.com
(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444
1 comment:
It is just an excuse. American government can do it if the current administration wants to. Republicans do not care much about humanity. They love wars. Funny thing is they ignore China and Vietnam's humanright violations at this moment. Both are their friends. Just like they did to KR in 1980's.
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