Darfur Benefit Concert to be Broadcast via Web

Singer/songwriter, Plissken, plans on raising awareness on the crisis in Darfur through a benefit concert called "Another abandoned nation." He also plans on sending a message to world leaders: "Darfur needs your help now."

The concert is being sponsored by Morusa Records, Entre Familia TV and DogCatRadio.com and will be broadcast via the internet with the goal ofreaching a vast number of viewers and encouraging them to donate money toAmeriCares.org, a charity organization collecting donations for the victimsof Darfur.

"Let's do for Darfur what we didn't do for Rwanda," says Plissken. "I'm hoping the world's nations and its citizens will join us in coming to the rescue of Darfur by donating through AmeriCares.org."

Plissken will be joining the three sponsors in making an undisclosed donation to AmeriCares. "Whether we help raise a lot of money or a little, the important thing is that we raise awareness on Darfur and try to put some political pressure on its government," adds Plissken. "We chose AmeriCares because they are anonprofit international relief organization providing disaster aid to victims of wars."

The benefit concert will take place on May 19th, 2007 at 8:00pm in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on DogCatRadio.com.


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Texas Legislators File 'Stop the Darfur Genocide Act'

Texas state Sen. Rodney Ellis (D - Houston) and state Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale (R - Houston) announced the filing of Senate Bill 247 & House Bill 667. The bipartisan legislation calls for the targeted divestment of state pension funds invested in companies doing business with the government of Sudan. Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, state Sen. Florence Shapiro, state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon and representatives of the University of Texas anti-genocide student coalition, The White Rose Society, joined the legislators in announcing the legislation.

In the past four years, the Sudanese government and their allied organizations have systemically killed more than 400,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million in Sudan's Darfur region. For the first time in history, the U.S. government declared these ongoing atrocities to be genocide. The U.N. declared the crisis the "worst humanitarian disaster in the world today."

The Sudan Divestment Task Force, a project of the Genocide Intervention Network, developed the model legislation.

"We are grateful for the bipartisan support and leadership of Senator Ellis, Rep. Van Arsdale and Commissioner Williams on this vital initiative. Texas has a unique opportunity to lead the nation and the world by divesting its state pension funds from companies that support and condone state- sponsored terrorism," says Adam Sterling, project director of the task force.

"Stop the Darfur Genocide Act" utilizes a targeted divestment model focusing on the companies in Sudan that have a business relationship with the Sudanese government, impart minimal benefit to the underprivileged and have expressed no corporate responsibility policy regarding the current situation in Sudan. The targeted divestment approach will help to maximize
the desired effect on the Sudanese government while minimizing harm to Sudanese civilians and investment returns.

The legislation ensures that only the most egregiously offending companies will be affected and excludes any company that substantially benefits those outside of government circles such as those involved in medicine, education, general consumer goods, and agriculture, supporters say. The legislation has already passed in six states and is similar to efforts currently underway in over 20 other states.

Sterling adds, "While the exact figure won't be known until Texas fully scans its portfolios, most pension fund systems have somewhere between tens and hundreds of millions of dollars invested in problematic companies tied to Sudan -- a figure that is relatively small compared to
Texas' pension funds size, but is rather large in the context of Sudan."


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Political Solution Required for Darfur, UN Official Says

Any peacekeeping force in the ravaged region of Darfur in Sudan will not prove effective without a political process aimed at finding a solution to the genocidal crisis gripping the area, a United Nations official says.

"If that force is deployed without a credible political process going on, it will not work. You can have an A.U. force, you can have a U.N. force, you can have a 10,000 force, a 20,000 force, or a 30,000 force, considering the size of Darfur and the fragmentation in Darfur, if you do not have a process that limits the influence of possible spoilers, then everybody is a spoiler and the force will not be in a position to really bring real progress," says Jean-Marie Guéhenno, UN under secretary general for peacekeeping.

Ongoing genocide in Darfur in western Sudan threaten the lives of more than 2 million people in the Darfur region.

"When you look at the political process, when you look at the reasons why the Darfur Peace Agreement is not today an agreement that has a wide following, you see that there are essentially three issues that stand out," Guéhenno says. "There is the issue of compensation, how much money and how is that money provided to the victims. There is the issue of the region of Darfur versus the free 11 states of Darfur. And there is the issue of the presence of Darfurians in Sudanese state institutions."

Meanwhile, the large amount of heavy weaponry sitting around Darfur right now on all sides also poses a challenge, according to Andrew Natsios, special U.S. presidential envoy to Sudan.

"You can’t have a peace agreement implemented unless that stuff is collected," he says. "The U.N. did not do a good job 14 years ago. I watched them really mess up some things. They do an
excellent job now in this. They have established procedures as to how to do it so it works. If we are going to have a peace agreement and Darfur is going to be stable again and development can take place, it is very important that we use those established procedures."



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