Waging Peace

In 2007 a Waging Peace researcher brought back the first ever petition of Darfuri refugees from the Chadian camps on the border of Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of Darfuris have escaped to avoid massacre at the hands of the Sudanese Government and Janjaweed militias.

The petition and the testimonials scrawled alongside the names call on the international community to intervene to stop the killings and restore peace and justice to Darfur so that the survivors can return home.

The petition, featured in the Guardian on 24 April 2008, has been signed by over 60,000 refugees, the majority of whom are women and it therefore constitutes the largest expression of women’s voices to come out of the region.

Alongside the names are personal stories, describing the atrocities that these innocent people have experienced and witnessed. This grassroots political action is a complete cultural anathema and was done in great bravery as these refugees who have signed their names put their lives at serious risk.

This petition is the true voice of the Darfuri people who, frustrated with their leaders, felt that for the first time they could communicate their desperation and the horror of their experiences directly to decision makers in the West. Without assistance from any foreign agency, they generated the energy within the camps to collect thousands of signatures and two months later sent a first box of 30,000 petitions to the UK, which have since been translated by Waging Peace and volunteers.  Since then, another 30,000 signatures have been collected from men, women and children in the camps.

One testimonial included in the petition reads: “We the mothers want them (the UN peacekeepers) to enter Darfur immediately. They have displaced us, and killed us, and raped us in front of our children and husbands. They killed our children and burnt our houses. This was all done by the Janjaweed in our homeland.”

Another reads: “Why does the government still ask for more time which gives them the chance to kill more people while the UN has not made a move yet? Why is the international community still keeping quiet although the Darfur disaster is the worst human disaster, but we all hear about Palestine and Iraq? Does the international community support what is going on? Do they agree with Omar Bashir that blacks are worthless? Why have they not done anything yet while everyday many women are being raped and many people are being killed and not only in Sudan, but also in Chad?...I ask the international community to take action immediately.”

Extracts from the petition were presented to 10 Downing Street on 25 April 2008 to mark the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the conflict and Waging Peace, on behalf of a desperate and abandoned community called on the British Government to lead the world in bringing an end to this tragic conflict and demonstrate that we have finally learnt something from Rwanda.

Waging Peace calls on the British government to act immediately to:

•    Ensure the full-scale deployment of the UNAMID force in Darfur – with the inclusion of experienced Western resources and forces if needed, rather than allowing the Sudanese government to veto any non-African troops

•           Implement a no-fly zone which will prevent the Sudanese government from using planes to bomb towns and villages

•           Abandon ideas of ‘a constructive engagement’ with the Sudanese
government and instead demonstrate to Khartoum that there will be serious repercussions should they continue to be obstructive.

For more information about the petitions please contact Louise Roland-Gosselin on louise.roland-gosselin@wagingpeace.info or call 020 7243 0300. 

A selection of the pictures drawn by Darfuri children depicting atrocities and violent attacks committed by the Sudanese Government forces and their allied Janjaweed militias are on currently on display in St Mary’s Church, Putney. 

Come and see the drawing exhibition at St Mary’s Church, Putney High Street, London, SW15 1SN.

Mon, Tue, Thurs, Fri, Sat 10am- 4pm; Wed 1-4 pm.

Please phone the Parish on 020 8788 4414 before visiting on Saturdays to double check the opening times as there may be other events occurring during which time the exhibition will not be available for visitors.

Sally @ St Mary's cafe is attached to the church serving good food and drink all day every day.

Last year our researcher, Anna Schmitt, travelled to eastern Chad to interview Darfuri refugees and displaced Chadians. She handed out crayons and paper to children aged between 6 and 18 years, and asked them to draw their dreams for the future and their strongest memories. Most of the resulting pictures depict violent attacks by the Sudanese Government forces and their allied Janjaweed militias. Many drawings show adult males being killed, women being shot and taken prisoner, babies being thrown onto fires and Government of Sudan helicopters and planes attacking ordinary Darfuris.

The result is an unprecedented collection of 500 drawings which have toured the globe - in Lithuania, Canada, the Czech Republic, Italy, and closer to home, in Blackburn Cathedral - raising awareness about the crisis in Darfur and in particular, the impact the continued atrocities are having on children.

We are marking the fifth anniversary of the start of the Darfur conflict by asking children and young adults to draw pictures of themselves and their families and to write messages of hope and support to the children living in the camps. Waging Peace will exhibit these drawings in London and then take them to Chad and give them to the Children in the camps. These messages of encouragement and solidarity from their peers in Britain will hopefully bring some measure of comfort to children who have suffered greatly, and who feel abandoned and isolated.

We are hoping that schools, churches, mosques and synagogues in the UK will get involved in this initiative and stand together with the people of Darfur by taking part in our Drawing Inspiration initiative.

For more information on this project, please contact Sophie McCann on sophie.mccann@wagingpeace.info or call 02072430300.

Teachers and students can get their schools involved by downloading the Teacher's Pack