Conservative silence on Darfur continues

Mon 23 Apr 2007

“If we do not act with conviction around Darfur, then soon we will reconvene to establish another day of commemoration for the suffering of yet another innocent people.”

NDP Challenges Harper to Support New UN Initiative

OTTAWA –Stephen Harper remains silent on the suffering of civilians in Darfur, a week after the government of Sudan announced its consent to a UN heavy support package of up to 3,000 troops for the troubled region.

At a press conference today, three NDP MPs - Foreign Affairs Critic Alexa McDonough, Defence Critic Dawn Black, and the vice-chair for the all-party commission for the prevention of genocide, Paul Dewar – challenged the government to use the occasion of the Armenian genocide commemoration to announce its strategy to support a renewed peace-support mission in Darfur.

“Darfur’s is a story that sounds far too similar to the experience of Armenians, of the European Jews, of many Native Americans, of the Rwandan Tutsi,” said the MPs in their press conference. “If we do not act with conviction around Darfur, then soon we will reconvene to establish another day of commemoration for the suffering of yet another innocent people.”

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