Bush, Pelosi Talk Darfur Crisis In Oval Office

The Save Darfur Coalition says it was pleased to learn that US President George Bush and House Speaker-to-Be Nancy Pelosi on Thursday in the Oval Office discussed at length the crisis in Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region. The coalition has called on Bush, Pelosi and the leadership of both parties to show their desire for bi-partisan cooperation by rallying behind a global effort to end the genocide in Darfur.

"There is perhaps no more urgent priority than ending the senseless slaughter of innocent men, women and children in Darfur," says David Rubenstein, executive director of the Save Darfur Coalition. "We are encouraged that both the president and the next speaker of the House are so engaged on the Darfur issue. They must now work together to show the world their resolve to stop the killing and the genocide in Darfur."

The Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of 178 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations united to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of over 2 million people in the Darfur region. The coalition's member organizations represent 130 million people of all ages, races, religions and political affiliations.

The coalition's ongoing public awareness campaign designed to educate people about the crisis in Darfur and to urge them to speak out about it will continue as the reins of Congress shift hands. The campaign includes a series of television ads that began on election night. The ads feature ordinary Americans reading actual eye-witness accounts of atrocities in Darfur and urging Americans to become advocates for the people of Darfur.

"Ending the genocide in Darfur is a foreign policy issue on which both parties can agree. If the president and the incoming Congressional leadership are looking for opportunities to work together on a vitally important issue, they need look no further than the crisis in Darfur.

"The two parties can heal the wounds of the election as they work together to ensure adequate funding for both peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts," says Rubenstein. "America's leaders have a tremendous opportunity to make clear that regardless of political persuasion, all Americans are united in our opposition to genocide."