CONGRESSMAN MILLER TAKES STRUGGLE IN DARFUR TO UN

California Chronicle, CA
March 8 2006

California Political Desk
March 7, 2006

Miller Follows Up on Trip to Sudan with Pleas for International
Assistance.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman George Miller, House Democratic Leader
Nancy Pelosi, and several other members of Congress met today with
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York City to
express their sense of urgency about the need for more forces and
humanitarian assistance in the Darfur region of the Sudan to address
the serious crisis there.

“We wanted to make sure that the United Nations heard our message
loud and clear: that we cannot let the Sudanese government continue
to victimize its own citizens,” said Miller. “We need to make sure
that the U.N. remains committed to increasing the number of United
African troops in the region to protect the people there.”

According to the Congressional Research Service, an estimated 1.9
million people have been displaced because of the political crises and
more that 213,000 people have been forced away from their homes and
into neighboring Chad. While there are no reliable estimates of the
number of people killed as a result of the conflict, some observers
project that up to 300,000 people have been killed over the past 24
months. In July 2004, the House and Senate declared the atrocities
in Darfur “genocide,” and the Bush Administration reached the same
conclusion in September 2004.

“Despite the passage of time, the situation in Darfur is getting
worse, not better,” Miller said. “The world community must respond
immediately. The current African Union Forces need to be strengthened
and given greater support. President Bush has declared this crisis
to be genocide, and it will continue to be genocide unless there is
a stronger reaction from the world community, including the United
States.”

Miller noted that on April 30 in Washington, D.C. and in other cities
thousands of people are expected to hold protests calling for stronger
actions on Darfur. Prominent political figures, faith leaders, human
rights activists, entertainers, journalists and thousands of others
who support a stronger multi-national force to protect the civilians
of Darfur are expected to participate.

“During the past genocides of Armenia, the Holocaust, and Rwanda, the
world community failed to speak up and act with diligence in a timely
manner,” Miller added. “Now we look back at the tens of millions of
lost and destroyed lives and ask how this happened. Today we have the
opportunity to learn from history rather than repeat it. Already too
much damage has occurred but if we act with diligence now, perhaps
we can stop this catastrophe that is occurring in Darfur.”