Fowler's complete statement is available here. 

Ahmadi, a women's rights activist and Save Darfur Coalition employee, spoke for millions of Darfuris who live in circumstances that one Belgium diplomat called "worse than hell."

U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson's declared that the U.N. "has failed" Darfur. Niemat voiced the ramifications of such failure.

The U.N.'s impotence has "further emboldened the Sudanese Government to expand its attacks on Darfuris to Khartoum itself," she said.

Niemat told the story of "Adam," a Darfuri man living in Khartoum who was beaten by Sudanese officials for his identity. Adam watched others die at the hand of Khartoum's indiscriminate campaign of terror.

The full text of Niemat's prepared statement follows:

My name is Niemat Ahmadi and I am the Darfuri Liaison Officer at the Save Darfur Coalition (SDC). Thank you for allowing me to share with you today two alarming trends that continue to threaten the lives of Darfuri civilians in Khartoum and Darfur. The first is another government offensive against not just rebels but also helpless civilians as the war in Darfur enters its sixth year. The second is the continuing and wide-ranging incommunicado detention of an unknown but large number of Darfuris and others mistaken for Darfuris in response to the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel attack on the capital on May 11.

As you know, the war has displaced well over 100,000 civilians just since the beginning of this year-that's nearly a thousand a day-many for a second or third time, as the Secretary-General told the Council on April 4th of this year. They are added to the over 2.5 million displaced in Darfur and eastern Chad as well as the hundreds of thousands who have been killed. The recent attack on the defenseless village of Shigeg Karo in North Darfur, which resulted in the deaths of six children, illustrates that the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in its current state is not capable of satisfactorily fulfilling its mandate. Some wounded civilians who survived the attack reportedly had to drive themselves to distant hospitals, as UNAMID and International Committee of the Red Cross personnel did not arrive at the village until 48 hours after the attack.

Today, untold thousands of Darfuris, and other citizens from the south and elsewhere who were mistaken for Darfuri because of their appearance, are being held incommunicado and under horrific conditions. I hold in my hand today testimony from men and boys, some as young as 14, who have been brutalized and in some cases killed for one reason: their appearance.

Because of the time allotted to me, I will share with you just a brief portion of one such tragic case in the voice of its victim who has since been released. Untold numbers remain under those conditions as I speak to you right now. I have changed the names of all the individuals to protect their identity. "Adam" is 25 and is a steelworker who is Masalit. He has lived in the capital for some time.

"They bound us with ropes and loaded us onto two trucks and headed to the police station at al-Shigla [a residential area in Omdurman]...they brought a boy into the room...he was about 14 years old or maybe 15. He was being led by policemen who were hitting him and ordering him to "point at the ones that are part of your group, or any person that you recognize." When he said that he didn't know any of us, they all started beating him ferociously. Then they tried again. This time he chose me and my colleague "Ismail" and another guy who is a southerner-who also works with me for the same company and pointed at us. The guards then tied us back up with the ropes and proceeded to punch and kick us and beat us with black water hoses. Each of us was getting pummeled by four guards. There were also two officers who were sitting and watching the entire episode unfold. The officers kept telling us to confess as we were getting beaten. They told us to confess and to not be afraid, because they were going to do us no harm. They told us to confess so that we'd be able to go home. They told us to confess that we were with "those people" [meaning JEM]. I pleaded with them-telling them that I didn't know JEM people. They insisted that there was no need for torture and all I had to do was admit to what "I had done," so that I could go back home. They continued to beat me and at that point, a colleague of mine called "Abdel Hafiz" told them that he, "Ismail", the southern guy, and me had all been working at the same location that day and that we were in no way affiliated with any group. At this point they stopped beating me and turned their attention to him... [later on] they released all of us into a courtyard and gave each person two loaves of bread, some lentils and a small cut-off bottle of water...(This is after 21 hours of thirst in the hot weather of Sudan at this time of year). This is what we received each day for the next four days...I personally witnessed three deaths with my own eyes. The first was a man from Zalingi who worked as a water carrier in the Libya market [a market in an area of Omdurman, occupied primarily by Darfuris and others from western Sudan]. He was begging the guards for water, and they kicked him and spit in his face. He protested being spit at and they kicked him in the stomach until he died. Another man was found lying dead in the big room we were being held in. I think he died of thirst. A third man died when he drank so much water [out of a barrel the guards had brought later]...after nearly an entire day without any water and just collapsed on the spot.

This is just one story of many we have collected. "Adam" remained in captivity for well over a week before he was released. Others remain. The testimonies you are hearing today attest to the gravity of your responsibility. Whether "Adam" and thousands of others live or die will be affected by the choices you make today. For their sake, I hope you make the right decisions.

As described in the just released report by SDC and the Enough Project, the failures so far emphasize the need for this Council to ensure that all the necessary resources required for UNAMID deployment be immediately provided and that sanctions be placed on those Sudanese government officials responsible for obstructing deployment. There is no good reason that UNAMID still does not have the helicopters, trucks, or personnel that it requires to have an even minimal impact on the ground.

The continued failure to fully deploy UNAMID has further emboldened the Sudanese Government to expand its attacks on Darfuris to Khartoum itself.

Thank you.

Shareholders in several mutual fund companies have introduced resolutions regarding genocide. Sixty-six shareholder resolutions have been introduced in 12 firms. Some require companies to push the Sudanese government to end its atrocities. Others require them to divest completely from any company that works with Khartoum. They all work towards one goal: to pressure the government of Sudan to end its assault on its own people.

U.S. mutual fund companies have been hearing these messages for more than a year. In 2007, during the Divest for Darfur campaign, more than 200,000 people called on Franklin Templeton, JPMorgan Chase, Fidelity Investments, Capital Group (American Funds), Vanguard, and other firms to divest from companies that help fund genocide in Darfur. Activists took to the streets in Chicago, Washington D.C., New York, Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and cities across the country.

Now, the Save Darfur Coalition’s partner organizations are continuing to work the inside track through shareholder resolutions.

A network of human rights advocates and fund managers formed late last year, including Amnesty International USA, the Genocide Intervention Network, and the Calvert Group. This network has submitted resolutions to several mutual fund companies requiring them to adopt policies regarding genocide and mass atrocities. Specifically, they are asking mutual funds to pressure four oil companies – China National Petroleum Corporation, Malaysia’s Petronas, Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd of India and China’s Sinopec Corp – that work with the Sudanese government to make sure they are not complicit in genocide.

Another partner organization, Investors Against Genocide, has submitted resolutions to stop Fidelity from investing any money in companies that contribute to genocide. Shareholders can vote on the resolutions until June 18. Individuals who own shares in the affected mutual funds can vote in favor of the resolution they receive in the mail. So far, these resolutions have received an incredible amount of support, and we are optimistic that this support will force Fidelity to take action.

As the votes on such resolutions continue to come in, mutual fund companies face increasing pressure to take a stand against genocide. They have heard it on the streets, on the phones, in letters, and on petitions, ads and flyers. Now, through the work of these organizations and concerned shareholders, they are hearing the message from their own customers: genocide simply cannot remain business as usual.

To get involved in either campaign, please visit our partners’ websites. For information on Fidelity, please visit Investors Against Genocide. For more information on the coalition of human rights groups and fund managers, please visit Amnesty International.

As we campaign for President of the United States over the next several months, we expect there to be significant focus on the many differences between us. After all, elections are about choices in a free society. We have had a spirited contest so far and fully expect a robust debate about issues foreign and domestic right up to Election Day.

As we engage in this process, we are fully aware that friend and foe around the globe are watching and sometimes reacting based on their own analysis of the latest developments in the campaign.

It is with this awareness that we are taking the uncommon step of issuing a joint statement about an issue.

After more than five years of genocide, the Sudanese government and its proxies continue to commit atrocities against civilians in Darfur. This is unacceptable to the American people and to the world community.

We deplore all violence against the people of Darfur. There can be no doubt that the Sudanese government is chiefly responsible for the violence and is able to end it. We condemn the Sudanese government’s consistent efforts to undermine peace and security, including its repeated attacks against its own people and the multiple barriers it has put up to the swift and effective deployment of the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force. We further condemn the Sudanese government’s refusal to adhere to the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the conflict in southern Sudan.

Today, we wish to make clear to the Sudanese government that on this moral issue of tremendous importance, there is no divide between us. We stand united and demand that the genocide and violence in Darfur be brought to an end and that the CPA be fully implemented. Even as we campaign for the presidency, we will use our standing as Senators to press for the steps needed to ensure that the United States honors, in practice and in deed, its commitment to the cause of peace and protection of Darfur’s innocent citizenry. We will continue to keep a close watch on events in Sudan and speak out for its marginalized peoples. It would be a huge mistake for the Khartoum regime to think that it will benefit by running out the clock on the Bush Administration. If peace and security for the people of Sudan are not in place when one of us is inaugurated as President on January 20, 2009, we pledge that the next Administration will pursue these goals with unstinting resolve.

The statement asks members of the U.N. Security Council to make clear that there will be real consequences for all parties that attack civilians. It also urges the international community to intensify deployment of UNAMID peacekeepers and to launch a sustainable, just, and inclusive peace process.

Read the full statement

Some of these reports have been confirmed by journalists and human rights agencies, while details of other abuses have been compiled by leaders in the diaspora in daily contact with sources on the ground. The human rights violations to date include accounts of widespread detentions and disappearances, summary executions, crackdowns on Darfuri journalists and lawyers, and the looting of Darfuri homes and businesses.

Widespread Detentions and Disappearances

Contacts on the ground began reporting indiscriminate round-ups, detentions, interrogations and torture of Darfuris immediately following the May 10 attacks. Human Rights Watch expressed concern on May 12 about the arrests of more than 100 supporters of the rebel movements or other political opponents of the regime.[1] Since then, the large-scale crackdown has expanded to include individuals not directly affiliated with the JEM attack.

Darfuris in Khartoum and Sudanese human rights organizations have begun collecting the names of those detained and those whom have disappeared in the last week. The Sudan Human Rights Organization released a list of 100 names arrested between May 11 and May 13 [2]. The Sudan Organization Against Torture (SOAT) also reports that individuals believed to be Darfuris are being specifically targeted by the National Intelligence and Security Service. SOAT also provided a list of 11 Darfuris detained in recent days – including Amin Mahmoud Osman (the brother of high-profile human rights activist and parliamentarian Salih Mahmoud Osman). [3]

Personal accounts from members of the diaspora confirm these reports and also claim that Darfuri university students have been specifically targeted and that security forces have made numerous arrests during raids of Darfuri stores and businesses in the Soug Libya (Libya Market) neighborhood in Omdurman. These raids took place as recently as May 16 in the areas of Soba in south Khartoum and Al-Hag Al-Yousif in north Khartoum.

Summary Executions

Diaspora leaders also allege that sources on the ground claim that the security forces have carried out summary executions of Darfuris over the last ten days. On May 15, it was reported that two Darfuri women were shot inside their homes by security forces conducting house-to-house searches. On May 13, the same source reported that security forces shot and killed a Darfuri college student, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, on the streets of the Ombuddah area of Omdurman on account of nothing but his being of Darfuri origin.

In total, Save Darfur has received reports that up to 27 Darfuris have been executed from May 10 through May 13 – although these numbers cannot be confirmed.

Crackdown on Darfuri Journalists and Lawyers

Independent media in Khartoum and Darfuri journalists and lawyers have also been targeted for efforts to reveal the details and extent of these human rights violations. On May 15, Reuters reported that Sudanese authorities shut down the Arabic-language independent newspaper Alwaan for publishing details of the rebel attack on May 10. [4]

In addition to this step, Darfuri sources report that well-known Darfuri journalists have been detained and violently interrogated in Khartoum during the last week. These include Ismail Adam of Al-Sharq Al-Awsat’s office in Khartoum and Al-Ghali Shigaifat, Chairperson for the Darfuri Journalist Association. Other journalists attempting to visit individuals in hospitals in Omdurman recovering from injuries sustained during arrest and subsequent detention have been refused access to these individuals and threatened themselves by the police and security agents.

Darfur human rights defenders attempting to document the abuses of the last week have also been targeted. Most notably, Abdul Shakur Hashim Dirar Kaidanah – a well-known Darfuri lawyer – was arrested this week while at his office in Soug Libya (Libya Market) in Omdurman.

Homes and Stores Looted – Darfuris Afraid to Leave Homes

As part of the large-scale arrests campaign, security forces have raided Darfuri homes and stores. Some of these operations in the immediate days after the attacks have been part of the government’s search for Khalil Ibrahim, leader of JEM, and other rebel fighters purportedly hiding out in the city. Other operations, however, appear to be forms of collective punishment against people of Darfuri origin living in Khartoum and Omdurman. For example, on Tuesday May 13, Darfuri sources in the diaspora claim that security forces bulldozed 16 stores owned by Darfuris in Soug Libya (Libya Market) and 3 stores in El-Sough Al-Shaabi (Folks Market). These Darfuri sources also state that, in addition to widespread arrests, Darfuri men, women, and children were routinely beaten inside their homes during these raids.

As a result of the overall crackdown, many Darfuri families in Khartoum and Omdurman have not left their homes since the May 10 attacks.

Attack in North Darfur – and Rumors of More to Follow

Hearing reports of the crackdown and arrests in Khartoum, Darfuris remain fearful of new attacks in Darfur itself. On May 12, sources report that Janjaweed and government forces together attacked the town of Tawila. While there have been no other confirmed attacks in Darfur, multiple sources on the ground have witnessed a stepped-up mobilization of Janjaweed and security forces in North Darfur.

Dear All, -

It seems the regime got unwelcomed feedback from Human rights organizations, so it decided to zero more on Darfuri intellectuals and the educated ( students, lawyers, profesionals ). Inside activists said the Human Rights Watch Organization contacted them and will send a team ( if they get visas). We believe other organizations should follow suit ( Red Cross in particular).

- On 5/15/2008 during the cordon of Libya Market, The Security forces detained Human Rights Lawyer:

Abdul Shakur Hashim Dirar Kaidanah from his office inside Libya Market. Lawyer Abdulshajur is activist in human rights and very instrumental in protecting the rights of Darfuris especially in these days. He declared his volunteering in defending the detained Darfuris in the court of law.

- These are university students ,arrested on 5\14\2008 from their lodging in Omdorman\Ombadah Sabeel:

1. Hamed Idris Abdolrasool. Ahlia University .

2. Ibrahim Mohamd Suliman.

3. Fakhar Addin Haroon Mohamad. University of alnilin.

4. Motassam Khatir Bakhat.

5. Ali Abdollah Hassaballah.kordofan university.

The following their homes were looted and their mony and jewelries stolen by the Security Forces during the search and detention:

6. Kamal Dawood Yousif.

7. Abdolshakoor Hashim Dirar. Lawyer and SPLM member .

The following their whereabout is not known since their detention on 5\11\2008:

8. Hilal Suliman

9. Osman Mahmood

10. Azhary Mohamad Idris Hasan Fasher

11. Abdolrahim Adam

12. Ismail Adam Mohamad

13. Ahmad Suliman Ali Abdolrahman(from alhatanah,omdorman).

 

I will keep you posted.

Mohamed Suleiman

Dear all,  -

At this moment ( Thursday May 15th ) Salah Gosh Security forces and Special Forces ( The Capital Troops) with huge amounts of vehicles and troops are surrounding the largest market in Omdurman that is known to have large stores owned by Darfuris : Market of Libya ( Soug Libya). They are detaining any Darfuri there: Store owners, customers, street sellers, passers-by .

• On Tuesday Security forces accompanied by Municipal Bulldozers erased : 16 stores in Soug Libya owned by Darfuris, 3 stores in Elsoug Alshaabi ( Folks Market) in Omdurman owned by Darfuris, arresting owners.
• Sources talk about three mass graves in : Dar Elsalam, Wadi Saiedna ( north of Omdurman), North of Algaili (North of Khartoum). Some sources said to be participants in digging these graves and asked to be not identified.
• Detention of students, boys , young men is stepped up sharply in the past 48 hours. More reports of disappeared.
• Even women are detained, at least two killed inside their homes separately in Ombudah, another one killed in the street in Omdurman when she tried to protect her brother from Security forces. She was shot at point blank on the face. All women are from Zaghawa tribe.

Here is report from BBC to give you sample of what is going on in Khartoum, Sudan.

 I will keep you posted

 Mohamed Suleiman

 

Dear All,
Today Tuesday May 13th at around 1:00 pm the special forces ( Capital Troops) of Salah Gosh executed a Darfuri college student in the open on the spot, later they said his hair and skin color looked like those of the rebels. His body was riddled with bullets in front of people in Ombuddah, Omdurman. The security forces prevented condolences visits to his family home in Ombuddah, Omdurman.

Name of the victim: Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim
Age: 24 years.
Occupation: Student at Omdurman Islamic University.
Residents : Ombuddah, Omdurman
Origin: Darfur, Nyala .

The Government of Sudan secured the support of Arab League on the JEM Attack. Egypt security forces started to detain Darfuris in Egyptian cities ( some JEM supporters and some just Darfuri students or refugees). Darfuris in Saudi Arabia and Arab Gulf Countries are in subdued mode and keeping low profile. This affected the flow of information from Khartoum to outside and from these countries. GoS send Security officials to Arab Countries to clamp down on Darfuri activists.

Will keep you posted.

 Mohamed Suleiman   

Mohamed Suleiman, a leader of the Darfuri community in the U.S., submitted the following initial report on the violence in Khartoum and its sister city, Omdurman.

The Save Darfur Coalition calls on all sides and the international community to safeguard civilians.

Dear All,

This is what is happening now:

1- At check points Darfurians (mainly from Zaghawa tribe) are dragged from busses and cars, beaten in public before shoved into security covered vehicles.

2- paramilitary and security forces went from house to house in darfuri predominant neighborhoods (Umbada, Fitaihab, Libiya Market in Omdurman), arrest male darfurians (mainly from Zaghawa tribe), beaten and kicked in front of their families and children, some are beaten by the end of assault rifles, then thrown on the back of security trucks and taken away (not known where).

 3- There were summary executions of Darfuris ( mainly Zaghawa) and this some of the numbers reached us up to now:

- 17 were executed in Umbada (Omdurman)
- 5 were executed in Libya Market (Omdurman).
- 3 were executed in Fitaihab (Omdurman).
- 2 were executed in Khartoum Stadium (Khartoum).

I get names of disappeared. I am trying to put updated list. I get calls from all over the world from Darfuris with relatives in Khartoum area - all night.

Update on Darfur:
The Government unleashed the Janjaweed in central Darfur. I got news that Tawila village and surrounding villages were burnt in a fresh attack ( revenge to Khartoum incident). Still waiting on number and names of casualties among the villagers.

I will keep you posted.

Mohamed Suleiman