| Dont let Sudan become another Rwanda, mission leader urges By Elliott WrightUnited Methodist News Service T he head of the United Methodist international mission agency is calling on the worlds nations to mark the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda by acting to ward off a potential bloodbath in Sudan. The Rev. R. Randy Day, top staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, made the appeal April 7, a decade after the Rwandan government, controlled by a faction of the majority Hutu tribe, killed 800,000 people in a three-month period. Most of the victims were members of the minority Tutsi tribe and moderate Hutus. The United Methodist Church provided extensive relief services to Rwandan refugees at the time. Day criticized the United Nations and the governments of the United States and Western Europe for being mute and cowardly during the Rwandan atrocities. He said they had a chance to show their better faces in Sudan, where Arab militia, armed by the government, are pillaging and displacing African communities. He noted that an international conference in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is studying the events of a decade ago. The most important lesson from the horror of the Rwandan genocide should be that of international vigilance to assure that another Rwanda cannot happen anywhere on earth, Day said. With regard to mass murder, the nations and humanitarian organizations, including churches, should adopt and put into practice the slogan of the victims of the Nazi Holocaust: Never again! At the conference, Rwandan President Paul Kagame admonished the international community for failing to stop the genocide in his country. If mass killings were to occur elsewhere, Rwanda would be among the first to send in troops, he said, according to news reports. Days statement came the same day that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. President George Bush separately called for an end to the fighting in Sudan. Bush noted that Sudans civil war has been responsible for the deaths of 2 million people over two decades. Both leaders called on Sudans government to allow humanitarian relief agencies into the troubled area. The Sudanese government also announced that it was restarting direct talks with rebel forces, according to news reports. North of Rwanda, Africans in southern Sudan are undergoing what Day called a reign of terror inflicted by Arab forces backed by the government. In 2001, United Methodist News Service reported that reports of genocide had emerged from parts of Sudan where mostly Christians and followers of traditional religions live. At the time, an estimated 4 million had been forced from their homes, according to aid officials. The United Nations and the Western governments that failed so miserably in Rwanda have a chance in the Sudan to show their resolve to stop the germs of genocide before they fester and explode, Day said. Let us pray that they will! UMCOR is closely monitoring the situation in Sudan, he said, and is caring for Sudanese refugees in the nation of Chad. The relief organization played a major role 10 years ago in responding to the needs of Rwandan refugees fleeing into what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo. An appeal to United Methodists in 1994 resulted in more than $2 million for food relief, orphan care, medical supplies and shelter for the Rwandan emergency. Augmented by international funds, UMCOR reached out to many displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and East Africa, leading to agricultural projects, education for girls, food security operations, microfinancing, income generation and community reintegration of former combatants. We pray for a peaceful solution to the discord in Sudan, Day said, and, with the memory of Rwanda in our hearts, we recommit our programs and personnel to justice, freedom, and peace within and among nations, religions and ethnic groups. Contributions to the Sudanese emergency work and the ongoing refugee work in the Democratic Republic of Congo can be made to the Baltimore-Washington Conference, 7178 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD 21046-2132. Checks should be designated for fund No. 184385 for the Sudan or No. 198400 for the Congo. | 
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