Darfur: Ear-splitting protest in Berlin against genocide

With ear-splitting noise from the banging of saucepans and the sounding of alarm-clocks the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) and the Berlin Darfur group protested on Sunday in Berlin against the mass-deaths in western Sudan, which has gone largely unnoticed by the western world. "It is five to twelve, we are sounding the alarm!” said the banners carried by some 200 participants in the demonstration. The GfbV called on the EU to take effective measures immediately against the genocide of the black African population. "Sanctions against the regime in Khartoum and a no-fly zone over Darfur for the Sudanese air-force should have been imposed long ago”, said the GfbV Africa expert, Ulrich Delius.

"It is a matter of humanity no longer to accept these murders”, was the message of an appeal to the Bundeskanzler and Chair of the EU, Angela Merkel by many well-known personages from the world of music, TV, sport and show-business. Among the signatories were Anne Will, Fritz Pleitgen, Hape Kerkeling, Franziska van Almsick and the Sons of Mannheim.

The protest in Berlin was part of the number of campaigns, demonstrations and vigils, with which more than 300 cities throughout the world called on politicians to act for Darfur. In Germany it was the only campaign in the framework of the "Global Day for Darfur”.

"The genocide has lasted for four years without any serious and effective measures being taken so far against the atrocities”, criticised Delius. The decision of the German Parliament on Friday to threaten the Sudanese regime with sanctions must be swiftly followed by action: "The time for Sunday speeches must come to an end. The people in Darfur are waiting for assistance – now-!” So far some 400,000 people have been murdered by Arab mounted militia, supported by the Sudanese army and air-force or have died while trying to escape. About 2.7 million have been expelled. The survival of at least three million depends on shipments of aid, which have time and again had to be suspended on account of the catastrophic security situation.