Yesterday, in his Cairo address to the Muslim world, President Obama called the slaughter of innocents in Darfur “a stain on our collective conscience.” But his failure to call for a joint push for peace was a glaring omission from a speech intended to outline shared challenges that America and the Muslim world must confront together.

In response to his speech, the Save Darfur Coalition, Enough Project, and Genocide Intervention Network have released this statement.

As Jerry Fowler, President of the Save Darfur Coalition, points out, “President Obama missed an important opportunity in his Cairo speech to the Muslim world by not reiterating his commitment to lead for peace in Sudan, where 2.7 million Muslim civilians have been driven from their homes and hundreds of thousands have perished because of violence orchestrated by the government. President Obama could have asked all governments in the region to join him in offering a choice to Khartoum between concrete progress toward peace, which will result in improved relations, or continued obstructionism and use of violence, which will lead to increased isolation.”

Read or watch Obama’s Cairo speech and tell us what you think.

You can also take action by calling the White House at 1-800-GENOCIDE.  Tell the person that answers the phone that you:

1. Are concerned the President did not address the plight of 2.7 million Muslim civilians driven from their homes in Darfur in his Cairo speech.
2. Want President Obama to be personally engaged in bringing peace to Darfur and all of Sudan.
3. Want President Obama to ask governments in the region and around the world to join him in offering Khartoum a choice: concrete progress towards peace resulting in improved relations, or continued obstructionism and use of violence leading to increased isolation.

President Obama should have said more and he should have demonstrated more leadership for peace in Sudan.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Save Darfur Coalition.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 5:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.