Join the Debate on Darfur on May 24

Darfur Reuters

On Thursday May 24, 2007, starting at 10am EST, Reuters will be holding a Newsmaker event on the topic of the crisis in Darfur. The event will take place in New York and will follow the usual Newsmaker format of a panel discussion followed by a Q&A session.

Unfortunately there won't be a videocast, and it's unlikely that there'll be an audio feed either, but you can still participate by submitting questions and comments for the panel either in the comments section of this post, or via the “Join the Debate” link on the event web site. As the panel is composed mainly of specialists and journalists, our input as bloggers, readers and ordinary citizens is going to be especially critical.
 
The event page also carries a Global Voices feed, so if you happen to be blogging about Darfur, please make sure and send the link to our Sub-Saharan Africa editor Ndesanjo Macha via our Contact page.

And here are the event details:

Dealing with Darfur – what's at stake?

As security deteriorates, violence grows, resources dwindle and concerns mount over the effectiveness of peacekeepers and aid workers in Darfur, questions abound as to what the future holds for Western Sudan.

Reuters and Reuters AlertNet invite you to hear a panel of experts debate the situation in Darfur. Topics under the spotlight include what the responsibilities of the international community are, how the gap can be narrowed between Khartoum and the majority of U.N. members, and why Darfur has sparked more international attention than other forgotten African conflicts.

Panelists:
* Paul Holmes, Reuters (moderator)
* Ann Curry, NBC News
* Jean-Marie Guehenno, Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping U.N
* Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, Sudanese Ambassador to the U.N
* John Prendergast, International Crisis Group
* Mia Farrow, Actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
* Lauren Landis, Senior Representative, Sudan, U.S. Department of State

The event web site is: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/newsmakerDarfur

9 comments

  • Stop the US Zionist war on Sudan !

    Stop Racist Lies About Muslim, Arabs And Africans !

    Stop Attacking Sudan !

    http://www.bazabaza.blogspot.com

    .

  • Tracey Sergent

    Prime Minister Wen Jiabao openly supports the Khartoum government, is shielding Sudan from UN sanctions and is abetting the slaying of innocent people. I think the world is so appalled by this conflict because of the underlying hypocrisy on the part of China. President Hu Jintao is basically bankrolling a genocide while trying to publicise the merits of the Beijing Olympics. It’s like someone with the face of Walt Disney and the psychosis of Hannibal Lecter asking you if you’d like a family pass to the track and field events. It doesn’t fool me. I will be boycotting the Olympics and will urge my friends and family and local community to do the same.

  • Is this event open to the public. If it is why isn’t there a venue on any of the pages.

  • […] This following was insured by folks at Global Voices (GV): […]

  • Anubis

    Why should the US get involved in Darfur? The government does not want us there. We got involved in humanitarian actions in both Somalia and Iraq….look where that got us.

    No thanks; the US cannot save the world on its own and when we try to do something, all the pompous, self-righteous in the world chastise us for it. Let someone else do the heavy lifting this time

  • Ish

    1-Anne Penketh: “White House described Darfur as ‘genocide’ to please Christian Right,” The Independent Online Edition, July 2, 2005.

    http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article296269.ece

    2-Jonathan Steele: “Darfur wasn’t Genocide and Sudan is not a Terrorist State,” Guardian Unlimited, October 7, 2005.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1586994,00.html

    3-Peter Beaumont: “US ‘hyping’ Darfur genocide fears,” The Observer, October 3, 2004.

    http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1318628,00.html

    4-Black media: U.S., British interference complicates Sudan crisis

    http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_3486.shtml

    5-Sara Flounders:Why Sudan rejects UN troops

    http://www.workers.org/2006/world/sudan-0914/index.html

  • I have some questions and statements that I’d like to address to the panelists

    To the media:

    There has been a lot of talk recently about China being “the enabler of genocide” due to their support of the Khartoum government. Why hasn’t there been talk or focus about who the enablers of the rebels are? The rebels receive support from certain groups whether directly or indirectly. Shouldn’t those groups be scrutinized too for playing an enabling role in the conflict and dragging it further?

    To intervention supporters:

    The goal of intervention supporters is to help ease Darfur’s pain. Do pro-interventionists truly believe that intervention is going to make things better? Jihad is inevitable. That certainly ought to make the war messier and more violent. What will UN troops do then?

    To the Sudanese Ambassador to the UN:

    The Darfur conflict generally hasn’t been portrayed accurately in the Western media. However on the other hand, don’t you believe the way the conflict is being downlplayed by the Sudanese government shows a lack of respect for Sudanese lives especially when statements like “only 9,000 have died” are stated openly?

  • […] Further to our earlier post, here’s a quick update on the Reuters Newsmaker event on Darfur, which in New York at 10am EST today. Our Sub-Saharan Africa editor Ndesanjo Macha will be live-blogging the event at his blog Jikomboe, so you’ll be able to follow the proceedings there. Reuters will be tossing to the GV team from time to time for questions and feedback, so please leave any comments you may have either on this post or on Ndesanjo’s blog. […]

  • Zol

    Will John Pendregrast explaing to us his role in the decsion to bomb al-Shifa pharmacutical factory in 1998 when he was Undersecretary of State for African affairs? Why should consider him to be a credible source of information?

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