The Diocese of New Jersey and Bishop Councell convened the Darfur Committee to implement resolution 2008‐1 of the 2008 Diocesan Convention which charged “The Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey to join with the government of the United States, the United Nations, and a host of other countries, organizations
and individuals around the world to call and work for an end to the violence in Darfur,” and which called the Diocese of New Jersey to establish a committee to “study the situation in Darfur and provide information to member parishes and others about the crimes against humanity taking place there along with recommendations of actions that can be taken by parishes and individuals to bring these violations and actions to an end at the earliest possible opportunity and to provide support for Darfur refugees and other displaced persons.”
The Committee has been meeting for approximately one year, beginning on February 2, 2009, and consists of the following persons appointed by Bishop Councell: The Rev. Dr. Hugh E. Brown, III, Chair: the Rev. Canon Martin U.N. Oguike: the Rev. Greg Bezilla: the Rev. Sharon Sutton: the Rev. Jane Brady: Mr. Glendon Bell,
Mr. Matt Bollinger: and Ms. Alicia Graham.
The Committee has achieved the following in our first year of meeting for 2009, which focused on developing and creating an intentional program and series of actions on Darfur Advocacy with the Diocese of New Jersey and among its congregations.
*Prayerful study and research on the history of the human rights violations within Darfur, previous advocacy by the Episcopal Church, Anglican Communion and other faith‐based organizations, action by NGOs, and interventions by the United States government. But we also desire that the committee address the larger issues of the spiritual foundations for human rights advocacy and how the church effectively addresses issues of social justice and peace‐ making.
*The completion of a Darfur Committee brochure, outlining specific ways Diocesan congregations can take action on behalf of the people of Darfur.
*The completion of a new Darfur Committee Web Site and blog entitled: http://focusondarfur.blogspot.com.
Please check it out!
*A ongoing witness on the Web Site of the Diocese of New Jersey: www.newjersey.anglican.com.
*A significant presentation at Diocesan Convention in February of 2009, complete with a visual presentation from the web site of Amnesty International, focusing on the human rights crisis in Sudan.
*A Darfur Committee sponsored workshop at Trinity Cathedral in Trenton, as part of the Equipping the Servants day on Saturday, October 24th workshop, featuring a marvelous power‐point presentation on the crisis in Darfur and the wider human rights crisis in Sudan by the Rev. Canon Martin Oguike, member of the Darfur committee, with extensive contacts and experience within the circle of ministry to the Sudan.
*Congregational workshops on Darfur/Sudan in a number of different contexts including All Saints’ Church, Princeton, Trinity Cathedral, the Theology on Tap young adult ministry of Princeton, St. John’s Church, Fords and St. John’s Church, Sewaren.
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*Completion of a resource guide for action on Darfur for congregations, including work done by the Office of Government relations, the Episcopal Public Policy Network and Diocese of the Episcopal Church, USA, doing advocacy on behalf of Darfur. Darfur, which means “land of the fur,” is an arid and impoverished region of Western Sudan that has faced decades of graphic violence over land and grazing rights between mostly nomadic Arabs and farmers from native Darfur communities. Early in 2003, rebel groups began attacking government targets charging that the region had long been neglected by the Sudanese government based in Khartoum, and that the government was
using local Arab groups to oppress and destroying black African framers in favor of Arab nomads.
The Sudanese government responded by mobilizing “self‐defense militias” and refugees from Darfur described government links to brutal militia movement called the “Janjaweed,” accused of trying to “cleanse” black Africans from large swathes of territory. Refugees from Darfur say that following air raids by government aircrafts, the Janjaweed ride into villages on horses and camels, slaughtering men, raping women, and stealing whatever they can find.
The United States government has termed the government response to the Darfur rebellion as genocide; even though that term can provoke debate, there is no doubt that crimes against humanity have become a staple of life in Darfur and continue as we meet in Convention. Millions of civilians have fled their destroyed villages, the refugee problem is immense along Western Sudan’s borders, and United Nations estimates of the dead from the Darfur War total 300,000.
Although evidence within the past few months suggests that, in the words of the New York Times article on Darfur in January of 2010, “after years of mass killings, a fragile calm is beginning to take hold in Darfur,” there is still much, intense violence with five Rwandan peacekeepers brutally murdered in December of 2009, and aid workers routinely kidnapped and executed. Heavily armed bandits have become ubiquitous. However, perhaps the ultimate myth about Darfur is that the violence and massive abuse of human rights are over. Scott Gration, President Obama’s special envoy to Sudan, still refers to ongoing violence as “remnants of genocide.”
Such systemic violations of human rights continue to be the context of the Darfur Committee’s work.
We also note that violence continues in Southern Sudan as well, and the Presiding Bishop has issued a statement calling attention to the atrocities committed by “The Lord’s Resistance Army,” a Ugandan rebel group, which continues to terrorize people in the region, particularly Christians.
The Baptismal Covenant in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church, in the United States, contains an often neglected promise which is a bedrock commitment of our Christian lives: “We will strive for Justice and Peace among All People and respect the dignity of every human being, doing so with God’s help.”
The Darfur Committee, above all, seeks to call Christians in the Diocese of New Jersey to account for living out this Baptismal promise on a concrete and profound issue of international human rights. We ask for your work and prayerful engagement.
Respectfully submitted,
The Rev. Hugh E. Brown, III, D. Min., Chair, Darfur Committee and Rector, All Saints’ Parish, Princeton
